Illuminating gravitational waves: A concordant picture of photons from a neutron star merger

M. M. Kasliwal; E. Nakar; L. P. Singer; D. L. Kaplan; D. O. Cook; A. Van Sistine; R. M. Lau; C. Fremling; O. Gottlieb; J. E. Jencson; S. M. Adams; U. Feindt; K. Hotokezaka; S. Ghosh; D. A. Perley; P. C. Yu; T. Piran; J. R. Allison; G. C. Anupama; A. Balasubramanian; K. W. Bannister; J. Bally; J. Barnes; S. Barway; E. Bellm; V. Bhalerao; D. Bhattacharya; N. Blagorodnova; J. S. Bloom; P. R. Brady; C. Cannella; D. Chatterjee; S. B. Cenko; B. E. Cobb; C. Copperwheat; A. Corsi; K. De; D. Dobie; S. W.K. Emery; P. A. Evans; O. D. Fox; D. A. Frail; C. Frohmaier; A. Goobar; G. Hallinan; F. Harrison; G. Helou; T. Hinderer; A. Y.Q. Ho; A. Horesh; W. H. Ip; R. Itoh; D. Kasen; H. Kim; N. P.M. Kuin; T. Kupfer; C. Lynch; K. Madsen; P. A. Mazzali; A. A. Miller; K. Mooley; T. Murphy; C. C. Ngeow; D. Nichols; S. Nissanke; P. Nugent; E. O. Ofek; H. Qi; R. M. Quimby; S. Rosswog; F. Rusu; E. M. Sadler; P. Schmidt; J. Sollerman; I. Steele; A. R. Williamson; Y. Xu; L. Yan; Y. Yatsu; C. Zhang; W. Zhao

doi:10.1126/science.aap9455

Illuminating gravitational waves: A concordant picture of photons from a neutron star merger

M. M. Kasliwal
, E. Nakar
, L. P. Singer
, D. L. Kaplan
, D. O. Cook
, A. Van Sistine
, R. M. Lau
, C. Fremling
, O. Gottlieb
, J. E. Jencson
, S. M. Adams
, U. Feindt
, K. Hotokezaka
, S. Ghosh
, D. A. Perley
, P. C. Yu
, T. Piran
, J. R. Allison
, G. C. Anupama
, A. Balasubramanian

K. W. Bannister, J. Bally, J. Barnes, S. Barway, E. Bellm, V. Bhalerao, D. Bhattacharya, N. Blagorodnova, J. S. Bloom, P. R. Brady, C. Cannella, D. Chatterjee, S. B. Cenko, B. E. Cobb, C. Copperwheat, A. Corsi, K. De, D. Dobie, S. W.K. Emery, P. A. Evans, O. D. Fox, D. A. Frail, C. Frohmaier, A. Goobar, G. Hallinan, F. Harrison, G. Helou, T. Hinderer, A. Y.Q. Ho, A. Horesh, W. H. Ip, R. Itoh, D. Kasen, H. Kim, N. P.M. Kuin, T. Kupfer, C. Lynch, K. Madsen, P. A. Mazzali, A. A. Miller, K. Mooley, T. Murphy, C. C. Ngeow, D. Nichols, S. Nissanke, P. Nugent, E. O. Ofek, H. Qi, R. M. Quimby, S. Rosswog, F. Rusu, E. M. Sadler, P. Schmidt, J. Sollerman, I. Steele, A. R. Williamson, Y. Xu, L. Yan, Y. Yatsu, C. Zhang, W. Zhao

Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

688 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1559-1565
Number of pages	7
Journal	Science
Volume	358
Issue number	6370
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9455
State	Published - 22 Dec 2017

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10.1126/science.aap9455

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Kasliwal, M. M., Nakar, E., Singer, L. P., Kaplan, D. L., Cook, D. O., Van Sistine, A., Lau, R. M., Fremling, C., Gottlieb, O., Jencson, J. E., Adams, S. M., Feindt, U., Hotokezaka, K., Ghosh, S., Perley, D. A., Yu, P. C., Piran, T., Allison, J. R., Anupama, G. C., ... Zhao, W. (2017). Illuminating gravitational waves: A concordant picture of photons from a neutron star merger. Science, 358(6370), 1559-1565. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9455

@article{2813dd743cda4395abb8cfa4c822e7a4,

title = "Illuminating gravitational waves: A concordant picture of photons from a neutron star merger",

abstract = "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.",

author = "Kasliwal, \{M. M.\} and E. Nakar and Singer, \{L. P.\} and Kaplan, \{D. L.\} and Cook, \{D. O.\} and \{Van Sistine\}, A. and Lau, \{R. M.\} and C. Fremling and O. Gottlieb and Jencson, \{J. E.\} and Adams, \{S. M.\} and U. Feindt and K. Hotokezaka and S. Ghosh and Perley, \{D. A.\} and Yu, \{P. C.\} and T. Piran and Allison, \{J. R.\} and Anupama, \{G. C.\} and A. Balasubramanian and Bannister, \{K. W.\} and J. Bally and J. Barnes and S. Barway and E. Bellm and V. Bhalerao and D. Bhattacharya and N. Blagorodnova and Bloom, \{J. S.\} and Brady, \{P. R.\} and C. Cannella and D. Chatterjee and Cenko, \{S. B.\} and Cobb, \{B. E.\} and C. Copperwheat and A. Corsi and K. De and D. Dobie and Emery, \{S. W.K.\} and Evans, \{P. A.\} and Fox, \{O. D.\} and Frail, \{D. A.\} and C. Frohmaier and A. Goobar and G. Hallinan and F. Harrison and G. Helou and T. Hinderer and Ho, \{A. Y.Q.\} and A. Horesh and Ip, \{W. H.\} and R. Itoh and D. Kasen and H. Kim and Kuin, \{N. P.M.\} and T. Kupfer and C. Lynch and K. Madsen and Mazzali, \{P. A.\} and Miller, \{A. A.\} and K. Mooley and T. Murphy and Ngeow, \{C. C.\} and D. Nichols and S. Nissanke and P. Nugent and Ofek, \{E. O.\} and H. Qi and Quimby, \{R. M.\} and S. Rosswog and F. Rusu and Sadler, \{E. M.\} and P. Schmidt and J. Sollerman and I. Steele and Williamson, \{A. R.\} and Y. Xu and L. Yan and Y. Yatsu and C. Zhang and W. Zhao",

note = "Funding Information: We thank I. Kostadinova for seamlessly coordinating the GROWTH (Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen) project; B. Griswold for beautiful graphic art; P. Whitelock for facilitating InfraRed Survey Facility observations; S. Barthelmy for setting up a Ligo Virgo Consortium Gamma-ray Coordination Network system that facilitated quick, citable communication between astronomers and maximized the science return; S. Phinney, S. Kulkarni, and L. Bildsten for valuable comments; the staff of Gemini Observatory, particularly the director, L. Ferrarese, for rapidly approving our Director{\textquoteright}s Discretionary Time request; and our program contact scientists M. Shirmer, H. Kim, K. Silva, M. Andersen, and R. Salinas for supporting and executing observations. We are especially grateful to Gemini for postponing scheduled maintenance on the FLAMINGOS-2 instrument to allow us to obtain as much data as possible on this extraordinary event. This work was supported by the GROWTH project funded by the National Science Foundation under Partnerships for International Research and Education grant no. 1545949. GROWTH is a collaborative project among the California Institute of Technology (USA), University of Maryland College Park (USA), University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (USA), Texas Tech University (USA), San Diego State University (USA), Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA), Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan), National Central University (Taiwan), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (India), Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (India), Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), The Oskar Klein Centre at Stockholm University (Sweden), Humboldt University (Germany), and Liverpool John Moores University (UK). Full facility and funding acknowledgements are provided in the supplementary materials. The photometric data that we used are tabulated in table S1. All of our raw observations are available in observatory archives; URLs and project numbers are provided in the supplementary materials. The PLUTO software used for our simulations is available at http://plutocode.ph.unito.it/; our simulation input and output files are provided as data S1 and S2. Funding Information: We thank I. Kostadinova for seamlessly coordinating the GROWTH (Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen) project; B. Griswold for beautiful graphic art; P. Whitelock for facilitating InfraRed Survey Facility observations; S. Barthelmy for setting up a Ligo Virgo Consortium Gamma-ray Coordination Network system that facilitated quick, citable communication between astronomers and maximized the science return; S. Phinney, S. Kulkarni, and L. Bildsten for valuable comments; the staff of Gemini Observatory, particularly the director, L. Ferrarese, for rapidly approving our Director?s Discretionary Time request; and our program contact scientists M. Shirmer, H. Kim, K. Silva, M. Andersen, and R. Salinas for supporting and executing observations. We are especially grateful to Gemini for postponing scheduled maintenance on the FLAMINGOS-2 instrument to allow us to obtain as much data as possible on this extraordinary event. This work was supported by the GROWTH project funded by the National Science Foundation under Partnerships for International Research and Education grant no. 1545949. GROWTH is a collaborative project among the California Institute of Technology (USA), University of Maryland College Park (USA), University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (USA), Texas Tech University (USA), San Diego State University (USA), Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA), Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan), National Central University (Taiwan), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (India), Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (India), Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), The Oskar Klein Centre at Stockholm University (Sweden), Humboldt University (Germany), and Liverpool John Moores University (UK). Full facility and funding acknowledgements are provided in the supplementary materials. The photometric data that we used are tabulated in table S1. All of our raw observations are available in observatory archives; URLs and project numbers are provided in the supplementary materials. The PLUTO software used for our simulations is available at http://plutocode.ph.unito.it/; our simulation input and output files are provided as data S1 and S2.",

year = "2017",

month = dec,

day = "22",

doi = "10.1126/science.aap9455",

language = "English",

volume = "358",

pages = "1559--1565",

journal = "Science",

issn = "0036-8075",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

number = "6370",

}

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, PC, 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, WH, Itoh, R, Kasen, D, Kim, H, Kuin, NPM, Kupfer, T, Lynch, C, Madsen, K, Mazzali, PA, Miller, AA, Mooley, K, Murphy, T, Ngeow, CC, 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 2017, 'Illuminating gravitational waves: A concordant picture of photons from a neutron star merger', Science, vol. 358, no. 6370, pp. 1559-1565. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9455

TY - JOUR

T1 - Illuminating gravitational waves

T2 - A concordant picture of photons from a neutron star merger

AU - Kasliwal, M. M.

AU - Nakar, E.

AU - Singer, L. P.

AU - Kaplan, D. L.

AU - Cook, D. O.

AU - Van Sistine, A.

AU - Lau, R. M.

AU - Fremling, C.

AU - Gottlieb, O.

AU - Jencson, J. E.

AU - Adams, S. M.

AU - Feindt, U.

AU - Hotokezaka, K.

AU - Ghosh, S.

AU - Perley, D. A.

AU - Yu, P. C.

AU - Piran, T.

AU - Allison, J. R.

AU - Anupama, G. C.

AU - Balasubramanian, A.

AU - Bannister, K. W.

AU - Bally, J.

AU - Barnes, J.

AU - Barway, S.

AU - Bellm, E.

AU - Bhalerao, V.

AU - Bhattacharya, D.

AU - Blagorodnova, N.

AU - Bloom, J. S.

AU - Brady, P. R.

AU - Cannella, C.

AU - Chatterjee, D.

AU - Cenko, S. B.

AU - Cobb, B. E.

AU - Copperwheat, C.

AU - Corsi, A.

AU - De, K.

AU - Dobie, D.

AU - Emery, S. W.K.

AU - Evans, P. A.

AU - Fox, O. D.

AU - Frail, D. A.

AU - Frohmaier, C.

AU - Goobar, A.

AU - Hallinan, G.

AU - Harrison, F.

AU - Helou, G.

AU - Hinderer, T.

AU - Ho, A. Y.Q.

AU - Horesh, A.

AU - Ip, W. H.

AU - Itoh, R.

AU - Kasen, D.

AU - Kim, H.

AU - Kuin, N. P.M.

AU - Kupfer, T.

AU - Lynch, C.

AU - Madsen, K.

AU - Mazzali, P. A.

AU - Miller, A. A.

AU - Mooley, K.

AU - Murphy, T.

AU - Ngeow, C. C.

AU - Nichols, D.

AU - Nissanke, S.

AU - Nugent, P.

AU - Ofek, E. O.

AU - Qi, H.

AU - Quimby, R. M.

AU - Rosswog, S.

AU - Rusu, F.

AU - Sadler, E. M.

AU - Schmidt, P.

AU - Sollerman, J.

AU - Steele, I.

AU - Williamson, A. R.

AU - Xu, Y.

AU - Yan, L.

AU - Yatsu, Y.

AU - Zhang, C.

AU - Zhao, W.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank I. Kostadinova for seamlessly coordinating the GROWTH (Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen) project; B. Griswold for beautiful graphic art; P. Whitelock for facilitating InfraRed Survey Facility observations; S. Barthelmy for setting up a Ligo Virgo Consortium Gamma-ray Coordination Network system that facilitated quick, citable communication between astronomers and maximized the science return; S. Phinney, S. Kulkarni, and L. Bildsten for valuable comments; the staff of Gemini Observatory, particularly the director, L. Ferrarese, for rapidly approving our Director’s Discretionary Time request; and our program contact scientists M. Shirmer, H. Kim, K. Silva, M. Andersen, and R. Salinas for supporting and executing observations. We are especially grateful to Gemini for postponing scheduled maintenance on the FLAMINGOS-2 instrument to allow us to obtain as much data as possible on this extraordinary event. This work was supported by the GROWTH project funded by the National Science Foundation under Partnerships for International Research and Education grant no. 1545949. GROWTH is a collaborative project among the California Institute of Technology (USA), University of Maryland College Park (USA), University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (USA), Texas Tech University (USA), San Diego State University (USA), Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA), Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan), National Central University (Taiwan), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (India), Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (India), Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), The Oskar Klein Centre at Stockholm University (Sweden), Humboldt University (Germany), and Liverpool John Moores University (UK). Full facility and funding acknowledgements are provided in the supplementary materials. The photometric data that we used are tabulated in table S1. All of our raw observations are available in observatory archives; URLs and project numbers are provided in the supplementary materials. The PLUTO software used for our simulations is available at http://plutocode.ph.unito.it/; our simulation input and output files are provided as data S1 and S2. Funding Information: We thank I. Kostadinova for seamlessly coordinating the GROWTH (Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen) project; B. Griswold for beautiful graphic art; P. Whitelock for facilitating InfraRed Survey Facility observations; S. Barthelmy for setting up a Ligo Virgo Consortium Gamma-ray Coordination Network system that facilitated quick, citable communication between astronomers and maximized the science return; S. Phinney, S. Kulkarni, and L. Bildsten for valuable comments; the staff of Gemini Observatory, particularly the director, L. Ferrarese, for rapidly approving our Director?s Discretionary Time request; and our program contact scientists M. Shirmer, H. Kim, K. Silva, M. Andersen, and R. Salinas for supporting and executing observations. We are especially grateful to Gemini for postponing scheduled maintenance on the FLAMINGOS-2 instrument to allow us to obtain as much data as possible on this extraordinary event. This work was supported by the GROWTH project funded by the National Science Foundation under Partnerships for International Research and Education grant no. 1545949. GROWTH is a collaborative project among the California Institute of Technology (USA), University of Maryland College Park (USA), University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (USA), Texas Tech University (USA), San Diego State University (USA), Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA), Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan), National Central University (Taiwan), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (India), Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (India), Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), The Oskar Klein Centre at Stockholm University (Sweden), Humboldt University (Germany), and Liverpool John Moores University (UK). Full facility and funding acknowledgements are provided in the supplementary materials. The photometric data that we used are tabulated in table S1. All of our raw observations are available in observatory archives; URLs and project numbers are provided in the supplementary materials. The PLUTO software used for our simulations is available at http://plutocode.ph.unito.it/; our simulation input and output files are provided as data S1 and S2.

PY - 2017/12/22

Y1 - 2017/12/22

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85031781920

U2 - 10.1126/science.aap9455

DO - 10.1126/science.aap9455

M3 - Article

C2 - 29038373

AN - SCOPUS:85031781920

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 358

SP - 1559

EP - 1565

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6370

ER -

Illuminating gravitational waves: A concordant picture of photons from a neutron star merger

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