期刊
NATURE
卷 551, 期 7678, 页码 64-+出版社
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/nature24291
关键词
-
资金
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through the Einstein Fellowship Program [PF6-170148, PF7-180162]
- US National Science Foundation (NSF) [AST-1313484]
- Israel Science Foundation [541/17]
- Department of Energy (DOE) [DE-SC0008067]
- DOE Office of Nuclear Physics [DE-S00017616]
- DOE SciDAC [DE-SC0018297]
- Office of Energy Research, Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics, Divisions of Nuclear Physics, of the US Department of Energy [DE-AC02-05CH11231]
- Office of Science of the US Department of Energy [DE-AC02-05CH11231]
- Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) under US Government [NAG W-2166]
- UK Science and Engineering Research Council
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) [DE-SC0008067] Funding Source: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
The merger of two neutron stars has been predicted to produce an optical-infrared transient (lasting a few days) known as a 'kilonova', powered by the radioactive decay of neutron-rich species synthesized in the merger(1-5). Evidence that short gamma-ray bursts also arise from neutron-star mergers has been accumulating(6-8). In models(2,9) of such mergers, a small amount of mass (10(-4)-10(-2) solar masses) with a low electron fraction is ejected at high velocities (0.1-0.3 times light speed) or carried out by winds from an accretion disk formed around the newly merged object(10,11). This mass is expected to undergo rapid neutron capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis, leading to the formation of radioactive elements that release energy as they decay, powering an electromagnetic transient(1-3,9-14). A large uncertainty in the composition of the newly synthesized material leads to various expected colours, durations and luminosities for such transients(11-14). Observational evidence for kilonovae has so far been inconclusive because it was based on cases(15-19) of moderate excess emission detected in the afterglows of gamma-ray bursts. Here we report optical to near-infrared observations of a transient coincident with the detection of the gravitational-wave signature of a binary neutron-star merger and with a low-luminosity short-duration gamma-ray burst(20). Our observations, taken roughly every eight hours over a few days following the gravitational-wave trigger, reveal an initial blue excess, with fast optical fading and reddening. Using numerical models(21), we conclude that our data are broadly consistent with a light curve powered by a few hundredths of a solar mass of low-opacity material corresponding to lanthanide-poor (a fraction of 10(-4.5) by mass) ejecta.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据