1. Illuminating gravitational waves: A concordant picture of photons from a neutron star merger
- Author
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Kasliwal, MM, Nakar, E, Singer, LP, Kaplan, DL, Cook, DO, Van Sistine, A, Lau, RM, Fremling, C, Gottlieb, O, Jencson, JE, Adams, SM, Feindt, U, Hotokezaka, K, Ghosh, S, Perley, DA, Yu, P-C, Piran, T, Allison, JR, Anupama, GC, Balasubramanian, A, Bannister, KW, Bally, J, Barnes, J, Barway, S, Bellm, E, Bhalerao, V, Bhattacharya, D, Blagorodnova, N, Bloom, JS, Brady, PR, Cannella, C, Chatterjee, D, Cenko, SB, Cobb, BE, Copperwheat, C, Corsi, A, De, K, Dobie, D, Emery, SWK, Evans, PA, Fox, OD, Frail, DA, Frohmaier, C, Goobar, A, Hallinan, G, Harrison, F, Helou, G, Hinderer, T, Ho, AYQ, Horesh, A, Ip, W-H, Itoh, R, Kasen, D, Kim, H, Kuin, NPM, Kupfer, T, Lynch, C, Madsen, K, Mazzali, PA, Miller, AA, Mooley, K, Murphy, T, Ngeow, C-C, Nichols, D, Nissanke, S, Nugent, P, Ofek, EO, Qi, H, Quimby, RM, Rosswog, S, Rusu, F, Sadler, EM, Schmidt, P, Sollerman, J, Steele, I, Williamson, AR, Xu, Y, Yan, L, Yatsu, Y, Zhang, C, and Zhao, W
- Subjects
Astronomical Sciences ,Physical Sciences ,astro-ph.HE ,astro-ph.GA ,astro-ph.SR ,gr-qc ,General Science & Technology - Abstract
Merging neutron stars offer an excellent laboratory for simultaneously studying strong-field gravity and matter in extreme environments. We establish the physical association of an electromagnetic counterpart (EM170817) with gravitational waves (GW170817) detected from merging neutron stars. By synthesizing a panchromatic data set, we demonstrate that merging neutron stars are a long-sought production site forging heavy elements by r-process nucleosynthesis. The weak gamma rays seen in EM170817 are dissimilar to classical short gamma-ray bursts with ultrarelativistic jets. Instead, we suggest that breakout of a wide-angle, mildly relativistic cocoon engulfing the jet explains the low-luminosity gamma rays, the high-luminosity ultraviolet-optical-infrared, and the delayed radio and x-ray emission. We posit that all neutron star mergers may lead to a wide-angle cocoon breakout, sometimes accompanied by a successful jet and sometimes by a choked jet.
- Published
- 2017