Fast International GRB and Afterglow Research and Observation Network – FIGARONET

We propose to use the “networking tool” from the ANR to prepare a response to a call from the ERC either as a “Synergy program” or “Advanced Grant”. Other tools from the EC and the ERC, as well as the possibility to answer Announcements of Opportunity from other agencies will be investigated.
The ultimate goal is to build a multidisciplinary, sustainable, network of scientists, in Europe and overseas, to optimize the use of space and ground facilities which are already available or will be on line in the short to mid – term; to identify gaps in instrumentation and either implement new instruments, or incorporate them from elsewhere, to prioritise efforts to interpret the avalanche of multimessenger and panchromatic data which will be soon available (or is already), and to stimulate theoretical work around explosive sources in the Universe, and their implications both for cosmology and theoretical physics.

1 general meeting has taken place in Roma in December 2014
1 general meeting will take place 9-11 December 2015
Several partial meetings have taken place in Tenerife, in the USA and in Nice. Several exchanges have taken place in between.
Most of them have been about the thematics of the network and the EU program targeted.
This resulted in a major shift, as now we target the infrastructure program of H2020, or eventually the Space program of H2020.

In December 2015 we take the final decision as to the target H2020 program, and we make a new tour to get the key participants and start write the final proposal for submission by the end of 2016.
Already, FIGARONet has been recognized as a EM partner for Advanced LIGO/Virgo.

Boër, M., Gendre, B., Stratta, G. : « Are Ultra-long Gamma-Ray Bursts Different ? », 2015, Astrophys. J., 800, 16
Regimbau, T., Siellez, K., Meacher, D., Gendre, B., and Boër, M. : « Revisiting Coincidence Rate between Gravitational Wave Detection and Short Gamma-Ray Burst for the Advanced and Third Generation », Astrophys. J., 2015, 799, 69
Coward, D., Branchesi, M., Howell, E., Lasky, P., Boër, M. : « The detection efficiency of on-axis short gamma-ray burst optical afterglows triggered by aLIGO/Virgo », 2014, Month. Not. R. Acad. Soc., 445, 3575

The fast transient Universe has become a major field of study. It contains the most powerful explosive sources that have been discovered, Gamma-Ray Bursts. These ultrarelativistic sources are linked with other phenomena such as core-collapse supernovae or binary neutron star mergers. They are excellent candidates for the first detection of gravitational waves and neutrinos. GRBs have been observed from radio waves to several tens of GeV.
The goal of this proposal is to build upon the European expertise and major instruments, such as the Advanced-Virgo gravitational interferometer, the SVOM GRB space mission, XMM-Newton, the ESO VLT, etc. in a strategic and coherent fashion. We propose building an international network to collaborate on developing the best strategies to follow-up these sources at all wavelengths, including all present and future instruments and multimessengers. Our goal is to optimize and to coordinate the studies of the data acquired, and to prepare the next generation science and instrumentation. We plan to write a proposal for a large European network, structuring the European community of high-energy transient and multimessenger astronomers, to play a major role on the international scene. This proposal will also result in a worldwide network, and a powerful tool for high-energy transient science, optimizing instrumentation and enhancing the collaboration between theoreticians and experimenters/observers.