| Literature DB >> 29038373 |
M M Kasliwal1, E Nakar2, L P Singer3,4, D L Kaplan5, D O Cook6, A Van Sistine5, R M Lau6, C Fremling6, O Gottlieb2, J E Jencson6, S M Adams6, U Feindt7, K Hotokezaka8,9, S Ghosh5, D A Perley10, P-C Yu11, T Piran12, J R Allison13,14, G C Anupama15, A Balasubramanian16, K W Bannister17, J Bally18, J Barnes19, S Barway20, E Bellm21, V Bhalerao22, D Bhattacharya23, N Blagorodnova6, J S Bloom24,25, P R Brady5, C Cannella6, D Chatterjee5, S B Cenko3,4, B E Cobb26, C Copperwheat10, A Corsi27, K De6, D Dobie13,28,17, S W K Emery29, P A Evans30, O D Fox31, D A Frail32, C Frohmaier33,34, A Goobar7, G Hallinan6, F Harrison6, G Helou35, T Hinderer36, A Y Q Ho6, A Horesh12, W-H Ip9, R Itoh37, D Kasen24,38, H Kim39, N P M Kuin29, T Kupfer6, C Lynch13,28, K Madsen6, P A Mazzali10,40, A A Miller41,42, K Mooley43, T Murphy13,28, C-C Ngeow11, D Nichols36, S Nissanke36, P Nugent24,25, E O Ofek44, H Qi5, R M Quimby45,46, S Rosswog47, F Rusu48, E M Sadler13,28, P Schmidt36, J Sollerman47, I Steele10, A R Williamson36, Y Xu6, L Yan6,35, Y Yatsu37, C Zhang5, W Zhao48.
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.Entities:
Year: 2017 PMID: 29038373 DOI: 10.1126/science.aap9455
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Science ISSN: 0036-8075 Impact factor: 47.728