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| GROWTH (Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen) | |
|---|---|
| Name | GROWTH (Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen) |
| Acronym | GROWTH |
| Established | 2014 |
| Type | International research collaboration |
| Focus | Time-domain astronomy, transients, multi-messenger follow-up |
| Headquarters | Distributed |
GROWTH (Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen) is an international collaboration that coordinates telescopes and instruments for rapid follow-up of astronomical transients. The program connects facilities across continents to study phenomena such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, tidal disruption events, and electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational-wave and neutrino detections. GROWTH integrates observational networks, data pipelines, and theoretical teams to enable rapid-response, multi-wavelength, and multi-messenger astronomy.
GROWTH operates at the intersection of time-domain facilities including space observatories and ground-based telescopes such as Keck Observatory, Palomar Observatory, Calar Alto Observatory, Subaru Telescope, and Very Large Telescope. It coordinates with survey projects and missions like Zwicky Transient Facility, Pan-STARRS, Vera C. Rubin Observatory, Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Partners span institutions such as Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Collaboration extends to multi-messenger facilities including LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration, KAGRA, IceCube Neutrino Observatory, and European Space Agency.
GROWTH was initiated in the mid-2010s with founders and contributors from organizations like University of California, Berkeley, Carnegie Institution for Science, MPIA, University of Tokyo, and Tsinghua University. The program grew in response to discoveries by projects such as Palomar Transient Factory and instruments like Swift that revealed the scientific potential of time-domain astronomy. It expanded through workshops at venues including Space Telescope Science Institute, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and meetings at International Astronomical Union symposia. Funding and seed support came from agencies such as National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, European Research Council, and national ministries including DST.
GROWTH aims to characterize transient phenomena discovered by surveys and alerts from observatories like Fermi and Swift, and to localize electromagnetic counterparts to triggers from LIGO, Virgo, KAGRA, and IceCube. Objectives include rapid photometric and spectroscopic classification using facilities such as Gemini Observatory, Magellan Telescopes, Hale Telescope, and APEX to study progenitors related to objects studied by Subaru, Keck, and VLT. Science goals encompass studies of explosive transients including events connected to SN 1987A, theoretical frameworks inspired by Woosley and Heger, and population studies informed by surveys like ZTF and Pan-STARRS. The collaboration supports follow-up for cosmological probes tied to projects including Dark Energy Survey and missions like Euclid.
Participating facilities include optical, infrared, radio, and high-energy observatories such as Keck Observatory, Subaru Telescope, Palomar Observatory, Hale Telescope, Gemini Observatory, SALT, ALMA, Very Large Array, and Chandra X-ray Observatory. Smaller telescopes and robotic networks like Las Cumbres Observatory, KMTNet, and university-operated observatories at Iowa State University and Indian Institute of Science contribute rapid cadence imaging. Instrumentation spans spectrographs such as DEIMOS, LRIS, FLOYDS, and imagers linked to surveys like Zwicky Transient Facility and Pan-STARRS. Coordination often leverages facilities operated by agencies including NASA, European Southern Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of China, and national observatories in India, Japan, and South Korea.
GROWTH implements rapid-response protocols tied to alert streams from Fermi-GBM, Swift-BAT, LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA, and IceCube. The collaboration uses target-of-opportunity programs at observatories like Keck, VLT, and Gemini and scheduling tools developed in collaboration with ZTF, Pan-STARRS, and Rubin Observatory teams. Strategies include multi-band photometry, time-resolved spectroscopy, polarimetry with instruments such as LRISpolarimeter analogs, and radio follow-up using VLA and ALMA. Coordination employs software and broker systems influenced by projects like ANTARES, AMPEL, and SCINET and policies aligned with observatories such as NOIRLab and agencies like NSF.
GROWTH has contributed to rapid classification of supernovae discovered by ZTF and to electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational-wave events from GW170817 era networks including LIGO and Virgo. The collaboration aided studies of fast optical transients related to objects studied by Swift and Fermi, and provided datasets used in publications linked to researchers from Caltech, Harvard, Princeton University, MIT, and University of Tokyo. Contributions include multi-wavelength light curves, early-time spectroscopy, and coordinated campaigns informing theoretical interpretations associated with researchers such as E. Berger and A. Gal-Yam-style studies.
GROWTH manages alert ingestion and data sharing among partners using platforms inspired by VOEvent standards and broker systems associated with ZTF and ANTARES. Data pipelines integrate services from institutions like IPAC, NOIRLab, NCSA, and university data centers at UC Berkeley and Purdue University. Policies balance rapid internal dissemination with archival release strategies analogous to those of SDSS and Gaia, and coordinate with data archives at MAST, HEASARC, and ESO Science Archive Facility.
GROWTH is a distributed collaboration with working groups involving institutions such as Caltech, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, University of California, Berkeley, National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, and National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Funding sources include grants from National Science Foundation, NASA, European Research Council, and national science agencies like Department of Atomic Energy (India), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and NSFC. Collaborations link to large surveys and consortia including Zwicky Transient Facility, Pan-STARRS, Rubin Observatory, LIGO Scientific Collaboration, IceCube Collaboration, and observatories such as Keck, Subaru, and Gemini Observatory.
Category:Astronomy collaborations