- Main
The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. II. UV, Optical, and Near-infrared Light Curves and Comparison to Kilonova Models
- Author(s): Cowperthwaite, PS
- Berger, E
- Villar, VA
- Metzger, BD
- Nicholl, M
- Chornock, R
- Blanchard, PK
- Fong, W
- Margutti, R
- Soares-Santos, M
- Alexander, KD
- Allam, S
- Annis, J
- Brout, D
- Brown, DA
- Butler, RE
- Chen, HY
- Diehl, HT
- Doctor, Z
- Drout, MR
- Eftekhari, T
- Farr, B
- Finley, DA
- Foley, RJ
- Frieman, JA
- Fryer, CL
- García-Bellido, J
- Gill, MSS
- Guillochon, J
- Herner, K
- Holz, DE
- Kasen, D
- Kessler, R
- Marriner, J
- Matheson, T
- Neilsen, EH
- Quataert, E
- Palmese, A
- Rest, A
- Sako, M
- Scolnic, DM
- Smith, N
- Tucker, DL
- Williams, PKG
- Balbinot, E
- Carlin, JL
- Cook, ER
- Durret, F
- Li, TS
- Lopes, PAA
- Lourenço, ACC
- Marshall, JL
- Medina, GE
- Muir, J
- Muñoz, RR
- Sauseda, M
- Schlegel, DJ
- Secco, LF
- Vivas, AK
- Wester, W
- Zenteno, A
- Zhang, Y
- Abbott, TMC
- Banerji, M
- Bechtol, K
- Benoit-Lévy, A
- Bertin, E
- Buckley-Geer, E
- Burke, DL
- Capozzi, D
- Carnero Rosell, A
- Carrasco Kind, M
- Castander, FJ
- Crocce, M
- Cunha, CE
- D'Andrea, CB
- Costa, LND
- Davis, C
- Depoy, DL
- Desai, S
- Dietrich, JP
- Drlica-Wagner, A
- Eifler, TF
- Evrard, AE
- Fernandez, E
- Flaugher, B
- Fosalba, P
- Gaztanaga, E
- Gerdes, DW
- Giannantonio, T
- Goldstein, DA
- Gruen, D
- Gruendl, RA
- Gutierrez, G
- Honscheid, K
- Jain, B
- James, DJ
- Jeltema, T
- Johnson, MWG
- Johnson, MD
- et al.
Published Web Location
https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aa8fc7Abstract
We present UV, optical, and near-infrared (NIR) photometry of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave source from Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO)/Virgo, the binary neutron star merger GW170817. Our data set extends from the discovery of the optical counterpart at 0.47-18.5 days post-merger, and includes observations with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), Gemini-South/FLAMINGOS-2 (GS/F2), and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The spectral energy distribution (SED) inferred from this photometry at 0.6 days is well described by a blackbody model with T ≈ 8300 K, a radius of R ≈ 4.5 × 10 cm (corresponding to an expansion velocity of v ≈ 0.3c), and a bolometric luminosity of L ≈ 5 × 10 erg s . At 1.5 days we find a multi-component SED across the optical and NIR, and subsequently we observe rapid fading in the UV and blue optical bands and significant reddening of the optical/NIR colors. Modeling the entire data set, we find that models with heating from radioactive decay of Ni, or those with only a single component of opacity from r-process elements, fail to capture the rapid optical decline and red optical/NIR colors. Instead, models with two components consistent with lanthanide-poor and lanthanide-rich ejecta provide a good fit to the data; the resulting "blue" component has M 0.1 M and v ≈ 0.3c, and the "red" component has and M ≈ 0.04 M⊙ and v ≈ 0.1 c. These ejecta masses are broadly consistent with the estimated r-process production rate required to explain the Milky Way r-process abundances, providing the first evidence that binary neutron star (BNS) mergers can be a dominant site of r-process enrichment. 14 41 -1 56 blue blue red red bol ej ⊙ ej ej ej
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