학술논문
Illuminating gravitational waves: A concordant picture of photons from a neutron star merger
Document Type
article
Author
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; Zhao, W
Source
Science. 358(6370)
Subject
Language
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.