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The merger of two neutron stars (NSs) or a neutron star and a black hole (BH) produces a radioactively-powered transient known as a kilonova, first observed accompanying the gravitational wave event GW170817. While kilonovae are frequently…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2021-03-17 Siva Darbha , Daniel Kasen

A semi-analytic approximation is derived for the time-dependent fraction $f_\gamma(t)$ of the energy deposited by radioactive decay $\gamma$-rays in a homologously expanding plasma of general structure. An analytic approximation is given…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-06-17 Or Guttman , Ben Shenhar , Arnab Sarkar , Eli Waxman

r-Process nucleosynthesis in material ejected during neutron star mergers may lead to radioactively powered transients called kilonovae. The timescale and peak luminosity of these transients depend on the composition of the ejecta, which…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-12-23 Jonas Lippuner , Luke F. Roberts

The characteristic rapid rise and decline at optical wavelengths of a kilonova is the product of the low ejecta mass ($\lesssim 0.05 M_\odot$) and high ejecta velocity ($\gtrsim 0.1$c). We show that, even at very early times ($\lesssim 2$…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-08-28 Daniel Brethauer , Daniel Kasen , Raffaella Margutti , Ryan Chornock

We present radiative transfer simulations for blue kilonovae hours after neutron star (NS) mergers by performing detailed opacity calculations for the first time. We calculate atomic structures and opacities of highly ionized elements (up…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2020-09-30 Smaranika Banerjee , Masaomi Tanaka , Kyohei Kawaguchi , Daiji Kato , Gediminas Gaigalas

Efficient multi-messenger observations of gravitational-wave candidates from compact binary coalescence candidate events rely on data products reported in low-latency by the International Gravitational-wave Network (IGWN). While data…

Kilonovae are generally believed to originate from the ejecta of binary neutron stars (NSs) or black hole and NS mergers. Free neutrons might be retained in the outermost layer of the ejecta to produce a precursor via $\beta$-decay. During…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-03-08 Yan-Qing Qi , Tong Liu

Given an increasing number of gamma-ray bursts accompanied by potential kilonovae there is a growing importance to advance modelling of kilonova afterglows. In this work, we investigate how the presence of two electron populations that…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-02-01 Vsevolod Nedora , Tim Dietrich , Masaru Shibata , Martin Pohl , Ludovica Crosato Menegazzi

Revealing the temporal evolution of individual heavy elements synthesized in the merger ejecta from binary neutron star mergers not only improves our understanding of the origin of heavy elements beyond iron but also clarifies the energy…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-11-15 Meng-Hua Chen , En-Wei Liang

The interaction between the fast-moving ejecta and the interstellar medium can produce long-lasting radio signals after binary neutron star mergers. Searching for such radio signals is a way to test the central engine of kilonovae and short…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2026-05-19 Jia-Xiang Chen , Shao-Ze Li

In binary neutron star mergers, lanthanide-rich dynamical ejecta and lanthanide-poor post-merger ejecta have been often linked to the red and blue kilonova emission, respectively. However, analytic light curve modeling of kilonova often…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-02-17 Ayari Kitamura , Kyohei Kawaguchi , Masaomi Tanaka , Sho Fujibayashi

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. Evidence that short…

Ejected material from neutron star mergers give rise to electromagnetic emission powered by radioactive decays of r-process nuclei, which is so called kilonova or macronova. While properties of the emission are largely affected by opacities…

We investigate the kilonova emission resulting from outflows produced in a three-dimensional (3D) general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulation of a hypermassive neutron star (HMNS) remnant. We map the outflows into the FLASH…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-11-18 Lieke Sippens Groenewegen , Sanjana Curtis , Philipp Mösta , Daniel Kasen , Daniel Brethauer

The finite time, $\tau_{\rm dep}$, over which positrons from $\beta^{+}$ decays of $^{56}$Co deposit energy in type Ia supernovae ejecta lead, in case the positrons are trapped, to a slower decay of the bolometric luminosity compared to an…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2020-03-24 Doron Kushnir , Eli Waxman

Macronovae (or kilonovae) are the optical and NIR counterparts of binary neutron star mergers. While the macronova in GW170817 was detected about 10 hours after the GW detection, future observations can possibly detect them within the first…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2018-08-29 Tatsuya Matsumoto

The shape of the light curve peak of radioactive--powered core--collapse "stripped--envelope" supernovae constrains the ejecta mass, nickel mass, and kinetic energy by the brightness and diffusion time for a given opacity and observed…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-23 J. Craig Wheeler , V. Johnson , A. Clocchiatti

Kilonovae are ultraviolet, optical, and infrared transients powered by the radioactive decay of heavy elements following a neutron star merger. Joint observations of kilonovae and gravitational waves can offer key constraints on the source…

The electromagnetic transients accompanying compact binary mergers ($\gamma$-ray bursts, afterglows and 'macronovae') are crucial to pinpoint the sky location of gravitational wave sources. Macronovae are caused by the radioactivity from…

Kilonova is an optical-infrared transient powered by the radioactive decay of heavy nuclei from binary neutron star mergers. Its observational characteristics depend on the mass and the nuclide composition of meger ejecta, which are…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-02-03 Wu-Zimo Qiumu , Meng-Hua Chen , Qiu-Hong Chen , En-Wei Liang