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Illuminating gravitational waves: A concordant picture of photons from a neutron star merger
- Kasliwal, MM;
- Nakar, E;
- Singer, LP;
- Kaplan, DL;
- Cook, DO;
- Van Sistine, A;
- Lau, RM;
- Fremling, C;
- Gottlieb, O;
- Jencson, JE;
- Adams, SM;
- Feindt, U;
- Hotokezaka, K;
- Ghosh, S;
- Perley, DA;
- Yu, P-C;
- Piran, T;
- Allison, JR;
- Anupama, GC;
- Balasubramanian, A;
- Bannister, KW;
- Bally, J;
- Barnes, J;
- Barway, S;
- Bellm, E;
- Bhalerao, V;
- Bhattacharya, D;
- Blagorodnova, N;
- Bloom, JS;
- Brady, PR;
- Cannella, C;
- Chatterjee, D;
- Cenko, SB;
- Cobb, BE;
- Copperwheat, C;
- Corsi, A;
- De, K;
- Dobie, D;
- Emery, SWK;
- Evans, PA;
- Fox, OD;
- Frail, DA;
- Frohmaier, C;
- Goobar, A;
- Hallinan, G;
- Harrison, F;
- Helou, G;
- Hinderer, T;
- Ho, AYQ;
- Horesh, A;
- Ip, W-H;
- Itoh, R;
- Kasen, D;
- Kim, H;
- Kuin, NPM;
- Kupfer, T;
- Lynch, C;
- Madsen, K;
- Mazzali, PA;
- Miller, AA;
- Mooley, K;
- Murphy, T;
- Ngeow, C-C;
- Nichols, D;
- Nissanke, S;
- Nugent, P;
- Ofek, EO;
- Qi, H;
- Quimby, RM;
- Rosswog, S;
- Rusu, F;
- Sadler, EM;
- Schmidt, P;
- Sollerman, J;
- Steele, I;
- Williamson, AR;
- Xu, Y;
- Yan, L;
- Yatsu, Y;
- Zhang, C;
- Zhao, W
Published Web Location
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9455Abstract
Merging neutron stars offer an excellent laboratory for simultaneously studying strong-field gravity and matter in extreme environments. We establish the physical association of an electromagnetic counterpart (EM170817) with gravitational waves (GW170817) detected from merging neutron stars. By synthesizing a panchromatic data set, we demonstrate that merging neutron stars are a long-sought production site forging heavy elements by r-process nucleosynthesis. The weak gamma rays seen in EM170817 are dissimilar to classical short gamma-ray bursts with ultrarelativistic jets. Instead, we suggest that breakout of a wide-angle, mildly relativistic cocoon engulfing the jet explains the low-luminosity gamma rays, the high-luminosity ultraviolet-optical-infrared, and the delayed radio and x-ray emission. We posit that all neutron star mergers may lead to a wide-angle cocoon breakout, sometimes accompanied by a successful jet and sometimes by a choked jet.
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