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28 March 2024
 
  » arxiv » 1710.5858

 Article overview


Spectroscopic identification of r-process nucleosynthesis in a double neutron star merger
E. Pian ; P. D'Avanzo ; S. Benetti ; M. Branchesi ; E. Brocato ; S. Campana ; E. Cappellaro ; S. Covino ; V. D'Elia ; J. P. U. Fynbo ; F. Getman ; G. Ghirlanda ; G. Ghisellini ; A. Grado ; G. Greco ; J. Hjorth ; C. Kouveliotou ; A. Levan ; L. Limatola ; D. Malesani ; P. A. Mazzali ; A. Melandri ; P. Moller ; L. Nicastro ; E. Palazzi ; S. Piranomonte ; A. Rossi ; O. S. Salafia ; J. Selsing ; G. Stratta ; M. Tanaka ; N. R. Tanvir ; L. Tomasella ; D. Watson ; S. Yang ; L. Amati ; L. A. Antonelli ; S. Ascenzi ; M. G. Bernardini ; M. Boer ; F. Bufano ; A. Bulgarelli ; M. Capaccioli ; P. G. Casella ; A. J. Castro-Tirado ; E. Chassande-Mottin ; R. Ciolfi ; C. M. Copperwheat ; M. Dadina ; G. De Cesare ; A. Di Paola ; Y. Z. Fan ; B. Gendre ; G. Giuffrida ; A. Giunta ; L. K. Hunt ; G. Israel ; Z.-P. Jin ; . Kasliwal ; S. Klose ; M. Lisi ; F. Longo ; E. Maiorano ; M. Mapelli ; . Masetti ; L. Nava ; B. Patricelli ; D. Perley ; A. Pescalli ; T. Piran ; A. Possenti ; L. Pulone ; M. Razzano ; R. Salvaterra ; P. Schipani ; M. Spera ; A. Stamerra ; L. Stella ; G. Tagliaferri ; V. Testa ; E. Troja ; M. Turatto ; S. D. Vergani ; D. Vergani ;
Date 16 Oct 2017
AbstractThe merger of two neutron stars is predicted to give rise to three major detectable phenomena: a short burst of gamma-rays, a gravitational wave signal, and a transient optical/near-infrared source powered by the synthesis of large amounts of very heavy elements via rapid neutron capture (the r-process). Such transients, named "macronovae" or "kilonovae", are believed to be centres of production of rare elements such as gold and platinum. The most compelling evidence so far for a kilonova was a very faint near-infrared rebrightening in the afterglow of a short gamma-ray burst at z = 0.356, although findings indicating bluer events have been reported. Here we report the spectral identification and describe the physical properties of a bright kilonova associated with the gravitational wave source GW 170817 and gamma-ray burst GRB 170817A associated with a galaxy at a distance of 40 Mpc from Earth. Using a series of spectra from ground-based observatories covering the wavelength range from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared, we find that the kilonova is characterized by rapidly expanding ejecta with spectral features similar to those predicted by current models. The ejecta is optically thick early on, with a velocity of about 0.2 times light speed, and reaches a radius of about 50 astronomical units in only 1.5 days. As the ejecta expands, broad absorption-like lines appear on the spectral continuum indicating atomic species produced by nucleosynthesis that occurs in the post-merger fast-moving dynamical ejecta and in two slower (0.05 times light speed) wind regions. Comparison with spectral models suggests that the merger ejected 0.03-0.05 solar masses of material, including high-opacity lanthanides.
Source arXiv, 1710.5858
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