Speaker
Description
The detection of gravitational wave (GW) events from neutron star mergers provides a unique opportunity to study their electromagnetic counterparts and identify the associated host galaxy. In particular, short $\gamma$-ray burst (sGRB) are pointed as a possible electromagnetic counterpart of GW. This study aims to identify typical morphological properties of sGRB host galaxies to better understand the nature of the progenitors and constrain the characteristics of other galaxies that may host similar events. We analyze 34 sGRBs observed by The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory with afterglow association and measure the morphological parameters of 34 sGRB host galaxies using the non-parametric morphological indexes of Concentration (C), Entropy (H), Gini coefficient (G), Gradient Pattern Analysis (G2), and the second-order moment of the brightest 20$\%$ of the galaxy's flux (M$_{20}$) provided by the Cymorph code. We find that the distribution of C, H, G, G2, and M$_{20}$ of sGRB host galaxies have median values of 0.58, 0.70, 0.42, 0.80, and -1.67, respectively, which are consistent with typical measurements observed in late-type galaxies. Our results suggest that late-type systems should be prioritized in future gravitational wave optical follow-ups where the GW event is consistently connected with short gamma-ray emission. These findings shed light on the formation scenario of binary neutron star mergers and provide a possible approach to prioritize targets for follow-up observations.
