WFST Follow-up of S251112cm: Searching for an Optical Counterpart to a Subsolar-mass Compact-binary Merger Candidate

@misc{liu2026wfst,
  title = {{WFST Follow-up of S251112cm: Searching for an Optical Counterpart to a Subsolar-mass Compact-binary Merger Candidate}},
  author = {Zhengyan Liu and Zelin Xu and Ji-an Jiang and Wen Zhao and Zhiping Jin and Zigao Dai and Dezheng Meng and Yefei Yuan and Xuefeng Wu and Lulu Fan and Xu Kong and Xander J. Hall and Antonella Palmese and Feng Li and Ming Liang and Binyang Liu and Zhen Wan and Hairen Wang and Jian Wang and Tinggui Wang and Hongfei Zhang and Xianzhong Zheng and Qingfeng Zhu},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.18523},
  eprint = {2609.18523},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.18523},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - WFST Follow-up of S251112cm: Searching for an Optical Counterpart to a Subsolar-mass Compact-binary Merger Candidate
AU  - Zhengyan Liu
AU  - Zelin Xu
AU  - Ji-an Jiang
AU  - Wen Zhao
AU  - Zhiping Jin
AU  - Zigao Dai
AU  - Dezheng Meng
AU  - Yefei Yuan
AU  - Xuefeng Wu
AU  - Lulu Fan
AU  - Xu Kong
AU  - Xander J. Hall
AU  - Antonella Palmese
AU  - Feng Li
AU  - Ming Liang
AU  - Binyang Liu
AU  - Zhen Wan
AU  - Hairen Wang
AU  - Jian Wang
AU  - Tinggui Wang
AU  - Hongfei Zhang
AU  - Xianzhong Zheng
AU  - Qingfeng Zhu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/27
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.18523
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.18523
AB  - Electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational-wave (GW) sources probe the properties, environments, and evolution of compact-object mergers. S251112cm belongs to an emerging class of GW candidates with possible subsolar-mass components. We present an optical counterpart search for S251112cm with the Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST). Observations began 20.2 hr after the GW trigger and lasted three nights, covering approximately 780 deg^2 and 51% of the localization probability in the updated skymap. Our search for newly emerging, rapidly evolving, off-nuclear optical transients yielded four candidates with host-galaxy distances broadly consistent with the GW distance estimate. All four evolve substantially more slowly than AT 2017gfo, ruling out an AT 2017gfo-like origin and disfavoring their association with S251112cm as rapidly evolving kilonova counterparts. Combining WFST and DECam increases the localization probability coverage to approximately 67%. Assuming the counterpart lies within this footprint, we constrain a grid of binary-neutron-star kilonova models. For viewing angles θ_obs<60^∘, with other parameters fixed to the AT 2017gfo best-fit values, models with dynamical ejecta mass M_dyn≳0.01 M_⊙ or wind ejecta mass M_wind≳0.05 M_⊙ are disfavored over most of the covered GW probability. Our phenomenological analysis further constrains rapidly evolving optical transients with T_rise,1/2≤2 days to peak absolute magnitudes fainter than approximately -13 mag. To our knowledge, WFST provides the strongest optical constraints to date in the northern sky on possible rapidly evolving counterparts to this new class of GW candidates with subsolar-mass components. The comparable depths and complementary sky coverage of WFST and DECam extend these constraints across more of the localization region at similar sensitivity.
ER  -