The Late Afterglow of GW170817/GRB 170817A: A Large Viewing Angle and the Shift of the Hubble Constant to a Value More Consistent with the Local Measurements

The multimessenger data of neutron star merger events are promising for constraining the Hubble constant. So far, GW170817 is still the unique gravitational wave event with multiwavelength electromagnetic counterparts. In particular, its radio and X-ray emission have been measured in the past similar to 3-5 yr. In this work, we fit the long-lasting X-ray, optical, and radio afterglow light curves of GW170817/GRB 170817A, including the forward shock radiation from both the decelerating relativistic gamma-ray burst outflow and the subrelativistic kilonova outflow (though whether the second component contributes significantly is still uncertain), and find out a relatively large viewing angle (similar to 0.5 rad). Such a viewing angle has been taken as a prior in the gravitational wave data analysis, and the degeneracy between the viewing angle and the luminosity distance is broken. Finally, we have a Hubble constant = H-0 72.57(-4.17) (+4.09) km s(-1) Mpc(-1) , which is more consistent with that obtained by other local measurements. If rather similar values are inferred from multimessenger data of future neutron star merger events, it will provide critical support to the existence of the Hubble tension.

Automated summary

By analyzing the multimessenger data of GW170817, we have found a relatively large viewing angle and obtained a Hubble constant value that is more consistent with other local measurements. If similar values are obtained from multimessenger data of future neutron star merger events, it will provide critical support to the existence of the Hubble tension.