Related papers: Kilonova evolution -- the rapid emergence of spect…
We present the first effort to aggregate, homogenize, and uniformly model the combined ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared dataset for the electromagnetic counterpart of the binary neutron star merger GW170817. By assembling all of 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…
Neutron star-black hole (NSBH) mergers, detectable via their gravitational-wave (GW) emission, are expected to produce kilonovae (KNe). Four NSBH candidates have been identified and followed-up by more than fifty instruments since the start…
Merging neutron stars produce "kilonovae"---electromagnetic transients powered by the decay of unstable nuclei synthesized via rapid neutron capture (the r-process) in material that is gravitationally unbound during inspiral and…
The mergers of neutron stars expel a heavy-element enriched fireball which can be observed as a kilonova. The kilonova's geometry is a key diagnostic of the merger and is dictated by the properties of ultra-dense matter and the energetics…
Kilonovae, the electromagnetic transients produced from two merging neutron stars, exhibit evolving spectral signatures in ultraviolet, visible, and infrared radiation. Starting around one week post-merger, equilibrium assumptions…
The historic first joint detection of both gravitational wave and electromagnetic emission from a binary neutron star merger cemented the association between short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) and compact object mergers, as well as providing a…
The AT2017gfo kilonova transient remains a unique multi-messenger event thanks to its proximity (z=0.00987) and the possibility to investigate time-resolved spectra, providing evidence of r-process nucleosynthesis. The kilonova signal was…
Coalescence of neutron stars gives rise to kilonova, thermal emission powered by radioactive decays of freshly synthesized r-process nuclei. Although observational properties are largely affected by bound-bound opacities of r-process…
Optical and near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the fast nova V1494 Aquilae 1999 #2 covering various phases -- early decline, transition and nebular -- during the first eighteen months of its post-outburst evolution are presented in…
A kilonova, the electromagnetic emission produced by compact binary mergers, is formed through a delicate interplay of physical processes, involving r-process nucleosynthesis and interactions between heavy elements and photons through…
[Abridged] Superluminous Supernovae (SN2006gy, SN2005gj, SN2005ap, SN2008fz, SN2003ma) have been a challenge to explain by standard models. We present an alternative scenario involving a quark-nova (QN), an explosive transition of the newly…
The 2017 detection of a kilonova coincident with gravitational-wave emission has identified neutron star mergers as the major source of the heaviest elements, and dramatically constrained alternative theories of gravity. Observing a…
The unprecedented optical and near-infrared lightcurves of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave source, GW170817, a binary neutron star merger, exhibited a strong evolution from blue to near-infrared (a so-called…
The discovery of the optical counterpart, along with the gravitational waves from GW170817, of the first binary neutron star merger, opened up a new era for multi-messenger astrophysics. Combining the GW data with the optical counterpart,…
Depending upon the properties of their compact remnants and the physics included in the models, simulations of neutron star mergers can produce a broad range of ejecta properties. The characteristics of this ejecta, in turn, define the…
For decades optical time-domain searches have been tuned to find ordinary supernovae, which rise and fall in brightness over a period of weeks. Recently, supernova searches have improved their cadences and a handful of fast-evolving…
The observation of the kilonova AT2017gfo and investigations of its light curves and spectra confirmed that neutron star mergers are sites of r-process nucleosynthesis. However, the identification of elements responsible for the spectral…
Mergers of neutron stars are believed to be one of the primary sites for the synthesis of the universe's heavy elements via the rapid neutron capture process. AT2017gfo, the kilonova following GW170817 provided the first direct…
A multi-messenger, black hole (BH) - neutron star (NS) merger event still remains to be detected. The tidal (dynamical) ejecta from such an event, thought to produce a kinonova, is concentrated in the equatorial plane and occupies only part…