Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Volume 848, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa91b3
Keywords
binaries: close; gamma-ray burst: general; gravitational waves
Categories
Funding
- NASA - Space Telescope Science Institute [HST-HF-51373.001]
- NASA [NAS5-26555]
- Kavli Foundation
- Danish National Research Foundation
- Niels Bohr International Academy
- DARK Cosmology Centre
- NSF [AST-1518052]
- Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation
- Heising-Simons Foundation
- UCSC Giving Day grant
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- UCMEXUS-CONACYT Doctoral Fellowship
- UNAM-PAPIIT grant [IG100317]
- [GO-14840]
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien
- Division Of Astronomical Sciences [1720756] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The merging neutron star gravitational-wave event GW170817 has been observed throughout the entire electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to gamma-rays. The resulting energetics, variability, and light curves are shown to be consistent with GW170817 originating from the merger of two neutron stars, in all likelihood followed by the prompt gravitational collapse of the massive remnant. The available gamma-ray, X-ray, and radio data provide a clear probe for the nature of the relativistic ejecta and the non-thermal processes occurring within, while the ultraviolet, optical, and infrared emission are shown to probe material torn during the merger and subsequently heated by the decay of freshly synthesized r-process material. The simplest hypothesis, that the non-thermal emission is due to a low-luminosity short gamma-ray burst (sGRB), seems to agree with the present data. While lowluminosity sGRBs might be common, we show here that the collective prompt and multi-wavelength observations are also consistent with a typical, powerful sGRB seen off-axis. Detailed follow-up observations are thus essential before we can place stringent constraints on the nature of the relativistic ejecta in GW170817.
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