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 et al, 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, CM, 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, IA, Williamson, AR, Xu, Y, Yan, L, Yatsu, Y, Zhang, C and Zhao, W (2017) Illuminating gravitational waves: A concordant picture of photons from a neutron star merger. Science. ISSN 1095-9203

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Abstract

Merging neutron stars offer an exquisite laboratory for simultaneously studying strong-field gravity and matter in extreme environments. We establish the physical association of an electromagnetic counterpart (EM170817) to gravitational waves (GW170817) detected from merging neutron stars. By synthesizing a panchromatic dataset, 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 ultra-relativistic jets. Instead, we suggest that breakout of a wide-angle, mildly-relativistic cocoon engulfing the jet elegantly explains the low-luminosity gamma-rays, the high-luminosity ultraviolet-optical-infrared and the delayed radio/x-ray emission. We posit that all merging neutron stars may lead to a wide-angle cocoon breakout; sometimes accompanied by a successful jet and sometimes a choked jet.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	MD Multidisciplinary
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy Q Science > QC Physics Q Science > QD Chemistry
Divisions:	Astrophysics Research Institute
Publisher:	American Association for the Advancement of Science
Related URLs:	Author
Date Deposited:	31 Oct 2017 11:38
Last Modified:	03 Sep 2021 23:33
DOI or ID number:	10.1126/science.aap9455
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/7446

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