English

Kilonova and progenitor properties of merger-driven gamma-ray bursts

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2025-12-30 v1

Abstract

Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) prompt and afterglow emission, as well as a kilonova (KN), are the expected electromagnetic (EM) counterparts of Binary Neutron Star (BNS) and Neutron Star -- Black Hole (NSBH) mergers. We aim to infer the KN ejecta parameters and the progenitor properties by modeling merger-driven GRBs with a claim of KN, good data and robust redshift measurement. We model the afterglow and KN, and perform a Bayesian analysis, within the Nuclear physics and Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (NMMA) framework. The KN emission is modeled with the radiative transfer code POSSIS and for afterglow we use the afterglowpy library. In contrast to previous approaches, our methodology simultaneously models both afterglow and KN. We find that all GRBs in our sample have a KN, but we were unable to confirm or exclude its presence in GRB 150101B. A BNS progenitor is favored for GRB 160821B, GRB 170817A/AT2017gfo, GRB 211211A, and GRB 230307A. For GRB 150101B and GRB 191019A, we obtain a slight preference for NSBH scenario, while a BNS is also viable. For KN emission, we find that the median wind mass Mwind=0.0270.019+0.046\langle M_{\rm wind}\rangle=0.027^{+0.046}_{-0.019} MM_{\odot} is larger than the dynamical Mdyn=0.0120.006+0.007\langle M_{\rm dyn}\rangle = 0.012^{+0.007}_{-0.006} MM_{\odot}. We find that MwindM_{\rm wind} and the beaming corrected kinetic energy of the jet can be attributed as log(Mwind)=20.23+0.38log(E0,J)log(M_{\rm wind})=-20.23+0.38\,log(E_{0,J}). We confirm the results of numerical simulation that Λ~\tilde\Lambda increases with decrease in MChirp\mathcal{M}_{\rm \,Chirp}. Our work shows that EM modeling can be effective for probing the progenitors, and for the first time presents the progenitor properties of a sizable sample of merger-driven GRBs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.23354,
  title  = {Kilonova and progenitor properties of merger-driven gamma-ray bursts},
  author = {P. Singh and G. Stratta and A. Rossi and P. T. H. Pang and M. Bulla and F. Ragosta and A. De Rosa and D. A. Kann and F. Cogato},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.23354},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

31 pages, 27 figures