The rate of short duration gamma-ray bursts in the local universe

The binary neutron star merger responsible for the gravitational wave event, GW170817, strengthened the merger association with short-duration gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) following the detection of the SGRB counterpart, GRB 170817A. Here we consider the constraints on a population of local gamma-ray bursts with moderately short duration (T₉₀ < 4 s) and within d < 200 Mpc, that may have originated from similar compact binary mergers. Using well localised gamma-ray bursts from ~ 14:5 years of Swift/Burst Alert Telescope monitoring, we find no events with high likelihood of being in this distance range, and place an upper limit for the all-sky rate of such events of < 4 y^-1. For Fermi/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and CGRO/Burst And Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) detected bursts, where the localisation has considerably larger uncertainties, we cross-correlated with 2MASS Redshift Survey galaxies at d < 100 Mpc, obtaining a weaker constraint of < 12 y^-1. A separate correlation search from the GBM and BATSE bursts for giant flares originating from soft gamma-ray repeaters in nearby galaxies (d < 11 Mpc) yields an upper limit of < 3 y^-1.