The first detected gravitational wave from a neutron star merger was GW170817. In this study, we present J-GEM follow-up observations of SSS17a, an electromagnetic counterpart of GW170817. SSS17a shows a 2.5-mag decline in the z-band from 1.7 days to 7.7 days after the merger. Such a rapid decline is not comparable with supernovae light curves at any epoch. The color of SSS17a also evolves rapidly and becomes redder for later epochs; the z − H color changed by approximately 2.5 mag in the period of 0.7 days to 7.7 days. The rapid evolution of both the optical brightness and the color are consistent with the expected properties of a kilonova that is powered by the radioactive decay of newly synthesized r-process nuclei. Kilonova models with Lanthanide elements can reproduce the aforementioned observed properties well, which suggests that r-process nucleosynthesis beyond the second peak takes place in SSS17a. However, the absolute magnitude of SSS17a is brighter than the expected brightness of the kilonova models with the ejecta mass of 0.01 M ⊙ , which suggests a more intense mass ejection (∼ 0.03M ⊙ ) or possibly an additional energy source.

We report results of $H$-band ($\lambda =$ 1.65$ \mu$m) imaging observations of young intermediate-mass stars using the Subaru 8.2-m Telescope with the adaptive optics AO36 and the infrared coronagraph CIAO. The targets consist of 16 Herbig Ae/Be stars (15 Herbig Ae stars and one Herbig Be star) and four additional main-sequence stars with infrared excesses. Five protoplanetary disks have been spatially resolved around the Herbig Ae stars with ages of 2–8 Myr. The resolved disks have outer radii of several 100 AU, and their surface brightnesses range from 10 mag arcsec$^{-2}$ to 18 mag arcsec$^{-2}$. The images reveal various morphologies in optically thick disks: spiral arms around AB Aur, a banana-split structure with an outer arm for HD 142527, a compact circumprimary disk of HD 150193, a faint discontinuous ring around HD 163296, and an unstructured face-on disk of HD 169142. The detection of an optically thick disk in scattered light implies that it is vertically flared, and intercepts stellar light at least in the outer region where those images were obtained. However, the surface brightness distribution, the resolved structure, and other observational characteristics suggest that the disks are unlikely to be continuously flared young disks with small grains well mixed with gas. The detection rate and the disk brightness do not correlate with the stellar age and the disk mass, but there is a tendency that the brightest disks are still surrounded by long-lived envelopes (AB Aur, HD 100546, HD 142527). The significant diversity of the disk structure can be attributed to the multiplicity and the initial condition of the local star-forming environments. The detections of companion candidates around our targeted stars are also reported.

From 2013 April to 2014 April, we performed X-ray and optical simultaneous monitoring of the type 1.5 Seyfert galaxy NGC3516. We employed Suzaku and five Japanese ground-based telescopes-the Pirka, Kiso Schmidt, Nayuta, MITSuME, and the Kanata telescopes. The Suzaku observations were conducted seven times with various intervals ranging from days or weeks to months, with an exposure of ∼50 ks each. The optical B-band observations not only covered those of Suzaku almost simultaneously, but also followed the source as frequently as possible. As a result, NGC3516 was found in its faint phase with a 2-10 keV flux of 0.21-2.70×10 −11 erg s. The 2-45 keV X-ray spectra were composed of a dominant variable hard power-law (PL) continuum with a photon index of ∼1.7 and a nonrelativistic reflection component with a prominent Fe-Kα emission line. Producing the B-band light curve by differential image photometry, we found that the B-band flux changed by ∼2.7×10 −11 erg s, which is comparable to the X-ray variation, and we detected a significant flux correlation between the hard PL component in X-rays and the B-band radiation, for the first time in NGC3516. By examining their correlation, we found that the X-ray flux preceded that in the B band by -+ 2.0 0.6 0.7 days (1σ error). Although this result supports the X-ray reprocessing model, the derived lag is too large to be explained by the standard view, which assumes a "lamppost"-type X-ray illuminator located near a standard accretion disk. Our results are better explained by assuming a hot accretion flow and a truncated disk.

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We present our optical follow-up observations to search for an electromagnetic counterpart of the first gravitational wave source GW150914 in the framework of the Japanese collaboration for Gravitational wave ElectroMagnetic follow-up (J-GEM), which is an observing group utilizing optical and radio telescopes in Japan, as well as those in New Zealand, China, South Africa, Chile, and Hawaii. We carried out a wide-field imaging survey with Kiso Wide Field Camera c 2014. Astronomical Society of Japan. 2Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, (2014), Vol. 00, No. 0 (KWFC) on the 1.05-m Kiso Schmidt telescope in Japan and a galaxy-targeted survey with Tripole5 on the B&C 61-cm telescope in New Zealand. Approximately 24 deg 2 regions in total were surveyed in i-band with KWFC and 18 nearby galaxies were observed with Tripole5 in g-, r-, and i-bands 4-12 days after the gravitational wave detection. Median 5σ depths are i ∼ 18.9 mag for the KWFC data and g ∼ 18.9 mag, r ∼ 18.7 mag, and i ∼ 18.3 mag for the Tripole5 data. Probability for a counterpart to be in the observed area is 1.2% in the initial skymap and 0.1% in the final skymap. We do not find any transient source associated to an external galaxy with spatial offset from its center, which is consistent with the local supernova rate. We summarize future prospects and ongoing efforts to pin down electromagnetic counterparts of binary black hole mergers as well as neutron star mergers.