| Abstract: | The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration (LVK) is in the middle of its fourth observing run, detecting a new gravitational wave (GW) event every few days. Rapid searches for the next GW counterpart, including gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and kilonovae, continues. Semi-automated data products are being publicly broadcast to the world in 30 seconds, providing localization and source properties, enabling multi-messenger and multi-wavelength follow-up observations. I will provide an overview of LVK's low-latency alert infrastructure, highlighting recent upgrades made for this observing run which include reduced latency aimed at pre-merger alerts and the publication of low-significance events. I will also discuss the performance of these data products, validated through the Mock Data Challenges (MDC). To capitalize on the increasing sensitivity of gravitational-wave (GW) detectors and electromagnetic observatories, the LVK collaboration has adopted the RAVEN (Rapid, on-source VOEvent Coincidence Monitor) pipeline. Since the second observing run, RAVEN has enabled real-time coincidence searches between GW events and external signals such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). I’ll also discuss recent upgrades to the RAVEN pipeline and future plans, including expanded offline capabilities and the integration of new experiments to detect a wider set of transients, such as fast radio bursts and neutrino events, as these sources become available. |
