No Arabic abstract
VLBI and JVLA observations revealed that GW170817 involved a narrow jet ($ theta_j approx 4^circ $) that dominated the afterglow peak at our viewing angle, $ theta_{rm obs} approx 20^circ $. This implies that at the time of the afterglow peak, the observed signal behaved like an afterglow of a top-hat jet seen at $ theta_{rm obs} gg theta_j $, and it can be modeled by analytic expressions that describe such jets. We use a set of numerical simulations to calibrate these analytic relations and obtain generic equations for the peak time and flux of such an afterglow as seen from various observing angles. Using the calibrated equations and the estimated parameters of GW170817, we estimate the detectability of afterglows from future double neutron star mergers during the Advanced LIGO/Virgo observation run O3. GW170817 took place at a relatively low-density environment. Afterglows of similar events will be detectable only at small viewing angles, $ theta_{rm obs} lesssim 20^circ $, and only $sim 20% $ of the GW detections of these events will be accompanied by a detectable afterglow. At higher densities, more typical to sGRB sites, up to $ 70% $ of the GW detections are expected to be followed by a detectable afterglow, typically at $ theta_{rm obs} sim 30^circ $. We also provide the latest time one should expect an afterglow detection. We find that for typical parameters, if the jet emission had not been detected within about a year after the merger, it is unlikely to be ever detected.
Gravitational waves have been detected from a binary neutron star merger event, GW170817. The detection of electromagnetic radiation from the same source has shown that the merger occurred in the outskirts of the galaxy NGC 4993, at a distance of 40 megaparsecs from Earth. We report the detection of a counterpart radio source that appears 16 days after the event, allowing us to diagnose the energetics and environment of the merger. The observed radio emission can be explained by either a collimated ultra-relativistic jet viewed off-axis, or a cocoon of mildly relativistic ejecta. Within 100 days of the merger, the radio light curves will distinguish between these models and very long baseline interferometry will have the capability to directly measure the angular velocity and geometry of the debris.
The LIGO/Virgo Consortium (LVC) released a preliminary announcement of a candidate gravitational wave signal, S190426c, that could have arisen from a black hole-neutron star merger. As the first such candidate system, its properties such as masses and spin are of great interest. Although LVC policy prohibits disclosure of these properties in preliminary announcements, LVC does release the estimated probabilities that this system is in specific categories, such as binary neutron star, binary black hole and black hole-neutron star. LVC also releases information concerning relative signal strength, distance, and the probability that ejected mass or a remnant disc survived the merger. In the case of events with a finite probability of being in more than one category, such as is likely to occur with a black hole-neutron star merger, it is shown how to estimate the masses of the components and the spin of the black hole. This technique is applied to the source S190426c.
Two neutron stars merge somewhere in the Universe approximately every 10 seconds, creating violent explosions observable in gravitational waves and across the electromagnetic spectrum. The transformative coincident gravitational-wave and electromagnetic observations of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 gave invaluable insights into these cataclysmic collisions, probing bulk nuclear matter at supranuclear densities, the jet structure of gamma-ray bursts, the speed of gravity, and the cosmological evolution of the local Universe, among other things. Despite the wealth of information, it is still unclear when the remnant of GW170817 collapsed to form a black hole. Evidence from other short gamma-ray bursts indicates a large fraction of mergers may form long-lived neutron stars. We review what is known observationally and theoretically about binary neutron star post-merger remnants. From a theoretical perspective, we review our understanding of the evolution of short- and long-lived merger remnants, including fluid, magnetic-field, and temperature evolution. These considerations impact prospects of detection of gravitational waves from either short- or long-lived neutron star remnants which potentially allows for new probes into the hot nuclear equation of state in conditions inaccessible in terrestrial experiments. We also review prospects for determining post-merger physics from current and future electromagnetic observations, including kilonovae and late-time x-ray and radio afterglow observations.
The first observation of a binary neutron star coalescence by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detectors offers an unprecedented opportunity to study matter under the most extreme conditions. After such a merger, a compact remnant is left over whose nature depends primarily on the masses of the inspiralling objects and on the equation of state of nuclear matter. This could be either a black hole or a neutron star (NS), with the latter being either long-lived or too massive for stability implying delayed collapse to a black hole. Here, we present a search for gravitational waves from the remnant of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 using data from Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. We search for short ($lesssim1$ s) and intermediate-duration ($lesssim 500$ s) signals, which includes gravitational-wave emission from a hypermassive NS or supramassive NS, respectively. We find no signal from the post-merger remnant. Our derived strain upper limits are more than an order of magnitude larger than those predicted by most models. For short signals, our best upper limit on the root-sum-square of the gravitational-wave strain emitted from 1--4 kHz is $h_{rm rss}^{50%}=2.1times 10^{-22}$ Hz$^{-1/2}$ at 50% detection efficiency. For intermediate-duration signals, our best upper limit at 50% detection efficiency is $h_{rm rss}^{50%}=8.4times 10^{-22}$ Hz$^{-1/2}$ for a millisecond magnetar model, and $h_{rm rss}^{50%}=5.9times 10^{-22}$ Hz$^{-1/2}$ for a bar-mode model. These results indicate that post-merger emission from a similar event may be detectable when advanced detectors reach design sensitivity or with next-generation detectors.
Binary neutron star mergers offer a new and independent means of measuring the Hubble constant $H_0$ by combining the gravitational-wave inferred source luminosity distance with its redshift obtained from electromagnetic follow-up. This method is limited by intrinsic degeneracy between the system distance and orbital inclination in the gravitational-wave signal. Observing the afterglow counterpart to a merger can further constrain the inclination angle, allowing this degeneracy to be partially lifted and improving the measurement of $H_0$. In the case of the binary neutron star merger GW170817, afterglow light-curve and imagery modeling thus allowed to improve the $H_0$ measurement by a factor of 3. However, systematic access to afterglow data is far from guaranteed. In fact, though each one allows a leap in $H_0$ precision, these afterglow counterparts should prove rare in forthcoming multimessenger campaigns. We combine models for emission and detection of gravitational-wave and electromagnetic radiation from binary neutron star mergers with realistic population models and estimates for afterglow inclination angle constraints. Using these models, we quantify how fast $H_0$ will be narrowed-down by successive multimessenger events with and without the afterglow. We find that, because of its rareness and though it greatly refines angle estimates, the afterglow counterpart should not significantly contribute to the measurement of $H_0$ in the long run.