scholarly journals Comparing inclination-dependent analyses of kilonova transients

2021 ◽  
Vol 502 (2) ◽  
pp. 3057-3065
Author(s):  
J Heinzel ◽  
M W Coughlin ◽  
T Dietrich ◽  
M Bulla ◽  
S Antier ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The detection of the optical transient AT2017gfo proved that binary neutron star mergers are progenitors of kilonovae (KNe). Using a combination of numerical-relativity and radiative-transfer simulations, the community has developed sophisticated models for these transients for a wide portion of the expected parameter space. Using these simulations and surrogate models made from them, it has been possible to perform Bayesian inference of the observed signals to infer properties of the ejected matter. It has been pointed out that combining inclination constraints derived from the KN with gravitational-wave measurements increases the accuracy with which binary parameters can be estimated, in particular breaking the distance-inclination degeneracy from gravitational wave inference. To avoid bias from the unknown ejecta geometry, constraints on the inclination angle for AT2017gfo should be insensitive to the employed models. In this work, we compare different assumptions about the ejecta and radiative reprocesses used by the community and we investigate their impact on the parameter inference. While most inferred parameters agree, we find disagreement between posteriors for the inclination angle for different geometries that have been used in the current literature. According to our study, the inclusion of reprocessing of the photons between different ejecta types improves the modeling fits to AT2017gfo and, in some cases, affects the inferred constraints. Our study motivates the inclusion of large ∼ 1-mag uncertainties in the KN models employed for Bayesian analysis to capture yet unknown systematics, especially when inferring inclination angles, although smaller uncertainties seem appropriate to capture model systematics for other intrinsic parameters. We can use this method to impose soft constraints on the ejecta geometry of the KN AT2017gfo.

2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (4) ◽  
pp. 5972-5977
Author(s):  
Francisco Hernandez Vivanco ◽  
Rory Smith ◽  
Eric Thrane ◽  
Paul D Lasky

ABSTRACT Gravitational-wave observations of binary neutron star coalescences constrain the neutron-star equation of state by enabling measurement of the tidal deformation of each neutron star. This deformation is well approximated by the tidal deformability parameter Λ, which was constrained using the first binary neutron star gravitational-wave observation, GW170817. Now, with the measurement of the second binary neutron star, GW190425, we can combine different gravitational-wave measurements to obtain tighter constraints on the neutron-star equation of state. In this paper, we combine data from GW170817 and GW190425 to place constraints on the neutron-star equation of state. To facilitate this calculation, we derive interpolated marginalized likelihoods for each event using a machine learning algorithm. These likelihoods, which we make publicly available, allow for results from multiple gravitational-wave signals to be easily combined. Using these new data products, we find that the radius of a fiducial 1.4 M⊙ neutron star is constrained to $11.6^{+1.6}_{-0.9}$ km at 90 per cent confidence and the pressure at twice the nuclear saturation density is constrained to $3.1^{+3.1}_{-1.3}\times 10^{34}$ dyne cm−2 at 90 per cent confidence. Combining GW170817 and GW190425 produces constraints indistinguishable from GW170817 alone and is consistent with findings from other works.


2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rossella Gamba ◽  
Matteo Breschi ◽  
Sebastiano Bernuzzi ◽  
Michalis Agathos ◽  
Alessandro Nagar

2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Hernandez Vivanco ◽  
Rory Smith ◽  
Eric Thrane ◽  
Paul D. Lasky

2020 ◽  
Vol 497 (2) ◽  
pp. 1966-1971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amber K Lenon ◽  
Alexander H Nitz ◽  
Duncan A Brown

ABSTRACT Two binary neutron star mergers, GW170817 and GW190425, have been detected by Advanced LIGO and Virgo. These signals were detected by matched-filter searches that assume that the star’s orbit has circularized by the time their gravitational-wave emission is observable. This suggests that their eccentricity is low, but full parameter estimation of their eccentricity has not yet been performed. We use gravitational-wave observations to measure the eccentricity of GW170817 and GW190425. We find that the eccentricity at a gravitational-wave frequency of 10 Hz is e ≤ 0.024 and e ≤ 0.048 for GW170817 and GW190425, respectively (90 per cent confidence). This is consistent with the binaries being formed in the field, as such systems are expected to have circularized to e ≤ 10−4 by the time they reach the LIGO–Virgo band. Our constraint is a factor of 2 smaller that an estimate based on GW170817 being detected by searches that neglect eccentricity. However, we caution that we find significant prior dependence in our limits, suggesting that there is limited information in the signals. We note that other techniques used to constrain binary neutron star eccentricity without full parameter estimation may miss degeneracies in the waveform, and that for future signals, it will be important to perform full parameter estimation with accurate waveform templates.


2020 ◽  
Vol 493 (2) ◽  
pp. 1633-1639
Author(s):  
M Saleem

ABSTRACT GW170817 was the first ever joint detection of gravitational waves (GW) from a binary neutron star (BNS) merger with the detections of short γ-ray burst (SGRB) counterparts. Analysis of the multiband afterglow observations of over more than a year revealed that the outflow from the merger end product was consistent with structured relativistic jet models with the core of the jet narrowly collimated to half-opening angles ∼5○. In this work, assuming that all the BNS mergers produce Gaussian structured jets with properties as inferred for GW170817, we explore the prospects of joint detections of BNS mergers and prompt γ-ray emission, expected during the current and upcoming upgrades of LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA detectors. We discuss three specific observational aspects: 1) the distribution of detected binary inclination angles, 2) the distance reach, and 3) the detection rates. Unlike GW-only detections, the joint detections are greatly restricted at large inclination angles, due to the structure of the jets. We find that at lower inclination angles (say below 20○), the distance reach as well as the detection rates of the joint detections are limited by GW detectability while at larger inclinations (say above 20○), they are limited by the γ-ray detectability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 639 ◽  
pp. A15
Author(s):  
Raphaël Duque ◽  
Paz Beniamini ◽  
Frédéric Daigne ◽  
Robert Mochkovitch

The only binary neutron star merger gravitational wave event with detected electromagnetic counterparts recorded to date is GRB170817A. This merger occurred in a rarefied medium with a density smaller than 10−3 − 10−2 cm−3. Since kicks are imparted to neutron star binaries upon formation, and due to their long delay times before merger, such low-density circum-merger media are generally expected. However, there is some indirect evidence for fast-merging or low-kick binaries, which would coalesce in denser environments. Nonetheless, present astronomical data are largely inconclusive on the possibility of these high-density mergers. We describe a method to directly probe this hypothetical population of high-density mergers through multi-messenger observations of binary neutron star merger afterglows, exploiting the high sensitivity of these signals to the density of the merger environment. This method is based on a sample of merger afterglows that has yet to be collected. Its constraining power is large, even with a small sample of events. We discuss the method’s limitations and applicability. In the upcoming era of third-generation gravitational wave detectors, this method’s potential will be fully realized as it will allow us to probe mergers that occurred soon after the peak of cosmic star formation, provided the follow-up campaigns are able to locate the sources.


2015 ◽  
Vol 92 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela D. Doneva ◽  
Kostas D. Kokkotas ◽  
Pantelis Pnigouras

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