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The Emergence of a Lanthanide-rich Kilonova Following the Merger of Two Neutron Stars

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posted on 2017-11-27, 12:09 authored by N. R. Tanvir, A. J. Levan, C. González-Fernández, O. Korobkin, I. Mandel, S. Rosswog, J. Hjorth, P. D'Avanzo, A. S. Fruchter, C. L. Fryer, T. Kangas, B. Milvang-Jensen, S. Rosetti, D. Steeghs, R. T. Wollaeger, Z. Cano, C. M. Copperwheat, S. Covino, V. D'Elia, A. de Ugarte Postigo, P. A. Evans, W. P. Even, S. Fairhurst, R. F. Jaimes, C. J. Fontes, Y. I. Fujii, J. P. U. Fynbo, B. P. Gompertz, J. Greiner, G. Hodosan, M. J. Irwin, P. Jakobsson, U. G. Jørgensen, D. A. Kann, J. D. Lyman, D. Malesani, R. G. McMahon, A. Melandri, P. T. O'Brien, J. P. Osborne, E. Palazzi, D. A. Perley, E. Pian, S. Piranomonte, M. Rabus, E. Rol, A. Rowlinson, S. Schulze, P. Sutton, C. C. Thöne, K. Ulaczyk, D. Watson, K. Wiersema, R. A. M. J. Wijers
We report the discovery and monitoring of the near-infrared counterpart (AT2017gfo) of a binary neutron-star merger event detected as a gravitational wave source by Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO)/Virgo (GW170817) and as a short gamma-ray burst by Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and Integral SPI-ACS (GRB 170817A). The evolution of the transient light is consistent with predictions for the behavior of a “kilonova/macronova” powered by the radioactive decay of massive neutron-rich nuclides created via r-process nucleosynthesis in the neutron-star ejecta. In particular, evidence for this scenario is found from broad features seen in Hubble Space Telescope infrared spectroscopy, similar to those predicted for lanthanide-dominated ejecta, and the much slower evolution in the near-infrared Ks-band compared to the optical. This indicates that the late-time light is dominated by high-opacity lanthanide-rich ejecta, suggesting nucleosynthesis to the third r-process peak (atomic masses A » 195). This discovery confirms that neutron-star mergers produce kilo-/macronovae and that they are at least a major—if not the dominant—site of rapid neutron capture nucleosynthesis in the universe.

Funding

The observations with VISTA were gathered by the ESO VINROUGE Survey (198.D-2010). Observations also used data from the VISTA Hemisphere Survey (VHS: 179.A-2010). HST observations were obtained using programs GO 14771 (PI: Tanvir), GO 14804 (PI: Levan), and GO 14850 (PI: Troja). VLT observations were obtained using programs 099.D-0688, 099.D-0116, and 099.D-0622. N.R.T., K.W., P.T.O., J.L.O., and S.R. acknowledge support from STFC. A.J.L., D.S., and J.D.L. acknowledge support from STFC via grant ST/P000495/1. N.R.T. and A.J.L. have received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement No. 725246, TEDE, Levan). I.M. acknowledges partial support from the STFC. Ad.U.P., C.T., Z.C., and D.A.K. acknowledge support from the Spanish project AYA 2014-58381-P. Z.C. also acknowledges support from the Juan de la Cierva Incorporación fellowship IJCI-2014-21669, and D.A.K. from Juan de la Cierva Incorporación fellowship IJCI-2015-26153. J.H. is supported by a VILLUM FONDEN Investigator grant (project number 16599). P.D.A., S.C., and A.M. acknowledge support from the ASI grant I/004/11/3. S.R. has been supported by the Swedish Research Council (VR) under grant No. 2016-03657_3, by the Swedish National Space Board under grant No. Dnr. 107/16, and by the research environment grant "Gravitational Radiation and Electromagnetic Astrophysical Transients (GREAT)" funded by the Swedish Research council (VR) under Dnr 2016-06012. P.A.E. acknowledges UKSA support. The VISTA observations were processed by C.G.F. at the Cambridge Astronomy Survey Unit (CASU), which is funded by the UK Science and Technology Research Council under grant ST/N005805/1. This research used resources provided by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Institutional Computing Program, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under contra

History

Citation

Astrophysical Journal Letters , 2017, 848 (2)

Author affiliation

/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/Department of Physics and Astronomy

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Published in

Astrophysical Journal Letters

Publisher

American Astronomical Society, IOP Publishing

issn

2041-8205

eissn

2041-8213

Acceptance date

2017-09-29

Copyright date

2017

Available date

2017-11-27

Publisher version

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aa90b6/meta

Language

en