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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Astrophysical Journal

A 2 month Galaxy-targeted Near-infrared Follow-up of the Sub-solar-mass Gravitational-wave Candidate S251112cm: Probing Electromagnetic Counterpart Scenarios

  • Gregory S. H. Paek1
  • Felipe Olivares E.2
  • Willem B. Hoogendam1
  1. 1University of Hawai'i
  2. 2University Park
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Abstract

S251112cm is a nearby (93 ± 27 Mpc) compact-binary merger candidate with a high inferred probability that at least one component is below 1 M ⊙ . This event provides a rare test case for electromagnetic follow-up of a theoretically predicted but unconfirmed sub-solar-mass merger candidate. Motivated by scenarios predicting near-infrared (NIR)-bright emission over weeks to months, we carried out a deep galaxy-targeted UKIRT J -band campaign over approximately 2 months, prioritizing host candidates by a ranking that combines the three-dimensional localization probability with Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) W1 luminosity as a stellar-mass proxy. Of ∼9000 candidate hosts, we monitored 59, corresponding to 7.7% of the cumulative weighted host prior. Difference imaging reveals no convincing transient down to typical depths of J ∼ 22–23 mag (AB). At this distance, both a Type Ic-BL supernova template and an AT 2017gfo-like kilonova (KN) template—including time-shifted variants up to Δ t ∼ 60 days—would have remained above our median depth for multiple epochs within the monitored hosts. Comparison with a canonical KN model grid, summarized through conditional weighted consistent-fraction maps, shows that bright configurations with high dynamical and wind-ejecta masses are strongly disfavored, while less luminous configurations remain largely permissible. While these constraints are host limited and do not constitute an event-wide exclusion, this campaign provides the first empirical case study of long-baseline, deep NIR follow-up for a sub-solar-mass merger gravitational-wave (GW) class and demonstrates a host-weighted framework applicable to future galaxy-targeted campaigns.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{paek2026month,
  title = {{A 2 month Galaxy-targeted Near-infrared Follow-up of the Sub-solar-mass Gravitational-wave Candidate S251112cm: Probing Electromagnetic Counterpart Scenarios}},
  author = {Gregory S. H. Paek and Felipe Olivares E. and Willem B. Hoogendam},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ae9e26},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae9e26},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - A 2 month Galaxy-targeted Near-infrared Follow-up of the Sub-solar-mass Gravitational-wave Candidate S251112cm: Probing Electromagnetic Counterpart Scenarios
AU  - Gregory S. H. Paek
AU  - Felipe Olivares E.
AU  - Willem B. Hoogendam
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/14
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-4357/ae9e26
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae9e26
AB  - S251112cm is a nearby (93 ± 27 Mpc) compact-binary merger candidate with a high inferred probability that at least one component is below 1 M ⊙ . This event provides a rare test case for electromagnetic follow-up of a theoretically predicted but unconfirmed sub-solar-mass merger candidate. Motivated by scenarios predicting near-infrared (NIR)-bright emission over weeks to months, we carried out a deep galaxy-targeted UKIRT J -band campaign over approximately 2 months, prioritizing host candidates by a ranking that combines the three-dimensional localization probability with Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) W1 luminosity as a stellar-mass proxy. Of ∼9000 candidate hosts, we monitored 59, corresponding to 7.7% of the cumulative weighted host prior. Difference imaging reveals no convincing transient down to typical depths of J ∼ 22–23 mag (AB). At this distance, both a Type Ic-BL supernova template and an AT 2017gfo-like kilonova (KN) template—including time-shifted variants up to Δ t ∼ 60 days—would have remained above our median depth for multiple epochs within the monitored hosts. Comparison with a canonical KN model grid, summarized through conditional weighted consistent-fraction maps, shows that bright configurations with high dynamical and wind-ejecta masses are strongly disfavored, while less luminous configurations remain largely permissible. While these constraints are host limited and do not constitute an event-wide exclusion, this campaign provides the first empirical case study of long-baseline, deep NIR follow-up for a sub-solar-mass merger gravitational-wave (GW) class and demonstrates a host-weighted framework applicable to future galaxy-targeted campaigns.
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
ER  -