Related papers: Kilonova Detectability with Wide-Field Instruments
The discovery of GW170817 and GRB 170817A in tandem with AT 2017gfo cemented the connection between neutron star mergers, short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), and kilonovae. To investigate short GRB observations in the context of diverse kilonova…
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…
The observed spectra and light curves of the kilonova produced by the GW170817 binary neutron star merger provide complementary insights, but modeling both the spectral- and time-domain has proven challenging. Here, we model the…
In this study we incorporate a new grid of kilonova simulations produced by the Monte Carlo radiative transfer code SuperNu in an inference pipeline for astrophysical transients, and evaluate their performance. These simulations contain…
Kilonovae produced by mergers of binary neutron stars (BNSs) are important transient events to be detected by time domain surveys with the alerts from the ground-based gravitational wave detectors. The observational properties of these…
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…
The ejected material at the binary neutron star merger GW 170817 was confirmed as a kilonova by UV, optical, and IR observations. This event provides a unique opportunity to investigate the particle acceleration at a mildly relativistic…
We study the optical and near-infrared luminosities and detectability of radioactively powered electromagnetic transients ('macronovae') occuring in the aftermath of binary neutron star and neutron star black hole mergers. We explore the…
Recent detection of gravitational waves from a neutron star (NS) merger event GW170817 and identification of an electromagnetic counterpart provide a unique opportunity to study the physical processes in NS mergers. To derive properties of…
Binary neutron star mergers are important to understand stellar evolution, the chemical enrichment of the universe via the r-process, the physics of short gamma-ray bursts, gravitational waves and pulsars. The rates at which these…
Kilonovae (KNe) are one of the fastest types of optical transients known, cooling rapidly in the first few days following their neutron-star merger origin. We show here that KN spectral features go through rapid recombination transitions,…
Gravitational waves were discovered with the detection of binary black hole mergers and they should also be detectable from lower mass neutron star mergers. These are predicted to eject material rich in heavy radioactive isotopes that can…
We present optical and ultraviolet spectra of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave (GW) source, the binary neutron star merger GW170817. Spectra were obtained nightly between 1.5 and 9.5 days post-merger, using the…
Kilonovae are the electromagnetic transients created by the radioactive decay of freshly synthesized elements in the environment surrounding a neutron star merger. To study the fundamental physics in these complex environments, kilonova…
The merger of two neutron stars produces an outflow of radioactive heavy nuclei. Within a second of merger, the central remnant is expected to also launch a relativistic jet, which shock-heats and disrupts a portion of the radioactive…
We present ground-based optical and Hubble Space Telescope optical and near-IR observations of the short-hard GRB130603B at z=0.356, which demonstrate the presence of excess near-IR emission matching the expected brightness and color of an…
We study the observable spectral and temporal properties of kilonova remnants (KNRs) analytically, and point out quantitative differences with respect to supernova remnants. We provide detection prospects of KNRs in the context of ongoing…
AAssociation of GW170817/GRB170817A/AT2017gfo provides the first direct evidence for neutron star mergers as significant sources of $r$-process nucleosynthesis. A gamma-ray transient (GRT) would be powered by the radioactive decay of the…
The merger of binary neutron stars (NSs) ejects a small quantity of neutron rich matter, the radioactive decay of which powers a day to week long thermal transient known as a kilonova. Most of the ejecta remains sufficiently dense during…
GW170817 was the first detection of a binary neutron star merger via gravitational waves. The event was observed over a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum, revealing a thermal kilonova dominating the optical signal during the first…