Produção Nacional
Revisado por pares
The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. III. Optical and UV Spectra of a Blue Kilonova from Fast Polar Ejecta
2017; IOP Publishing; Volume: 848; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.3847/2041-8213/aa9029
ISSN2041-8213
AutoresM. Nicholl, E. Berger, Daniel Kasen, Brian D. Metzger, J. Elias, César Briceño, K. D. Alexander, P. K. Blanchard, R. Chornock, P. S. Cowperthwaite, T. Eftekhari, W. Fong, R. Margutti, V. Ashley Villar, Peter K. G. Williams, Warren R. Brown, J. Annis, Arash Bahramian, Dillon Brout, D. Brown, Hsin-Yu Chen, J. C. Clemens, Erik Dennihy, B. H. Dunlap, D. E. Holz, E. J. Marchesini, F. Massaro, N. Moskowitz, Ingrid Pelisoli, A. Rest, F. Ricci, M. Šako, M. Soares-Santos, Jay Strader,
Tópico(s)Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
ResumoAbstract 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 Southern Astrophysical Research and Magellan telescopes; the UV spectrum was obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope at 5.5 days. Our data reveal a rapidly fading blue component ( <?CDATA $T\approx 5500$?> T ≈ 5500 K at 1.5 days) that quickly reddens; spectra later than <?CDATA $\gtrsim 4.5$?> ≳ 4.5 days peak beyond the optical regime. The spectra are mostly featureless, although we identify a possible weak emission line at ∼7900 Å at <?CDATA $t\lesssim 4.5$?> t ≲ 4.5 days. The colors, rapid evolution, and featureless spectrum are consistent with a “blue” kilonova from polar ejecta comprised mainly of light r -process nuclei with atomic mass number <?CDATA $A\lesssim 140$?> A ≲ 140 . This indicates a sightline within <?CDATA ${\theta }_{\mathrm{obs}}\lesssim 45^\circ $?> θ obs ≲ 45 ° of the orbital axis. Comparison to models suggests ∼0.03 M ⊙ of blue ejecta, with a velocity of <?CDATA $\sim 0.3c$?> ∼ 0.3 c . The required lanthanide fraction is <?CDATA $\sim {10}^{-4}$?> ∼ 10 − 4 , but this drops to <?CDATA $\lt {10}^{-5}$?> < 10 − 5 in the outermost ejecta. The large velocities point to a dynamical origin, rather than a disk wind, for this blue component, suggesting that both binary constituents are neutron stars (as opposed to a binary consisting of a neutron star and a black hole). For dynamical ejecta, the high mass favors a small neutron star radius of <?CDATA $\lesssim 12$?> ≲ 12 km. This mass also supports the idea that neutron star mergers are a major contributor to r -process nucleosynthesis.
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