A crystal ball for kilonovae

Abstract

The discovery of gravitational waves from merging compact objects has opened up a new window to the Universe. Planned third-generation gravitational-wave detectors such as Einstein Telescope will potentially deliver hundreds of such events at redshifts below $z\sim0.1$. Finding electromagnetic counterparts to these events will be a major observational challenge. We demonstrate how Einstein Telescope will provide advance warning of such events on a timescale of hours, based on the low frequency emission from the pre-merger system. In addition, we suggest how this early warning enables prompt identification of any electromagnetic counterpart using the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.