Searching for Electromagnetic Counterparts in DESGW Follow-up Data of Binary Black Hole Events

The number of binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration currently exceeds the number of binary neutron star mergers by a factor 10 and will only increase with upgrades to current gravitational wave (GW) detectors and the addition of new GW instruments in the near future. Mergers that yield both GW and electromagnetic (EM) signals are especially valuable to cosmology and can provide a direct measurement of the Hubble Constant. BBH mergers, which make up the greatest number of detected GW, however, only have EM counterparts under complex circumstances. In this talk, we will discuss the conditions in which BBH mergers would generate EM counterparts and place these models in context with the Dark Energy Survey's optical follow-up campaign of GW events. Our result, combining data from all three observing campaigns, is the most comprehensive search for EM counterparts of BBH mergers to date.