Compact radio emission indicates a structured jet was produced by a binary neutron star merger
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2019

The binary neutron star merger event GW170817 was detected through both electromagnetic radiation and gravitational waves. Its afterglow emission may have been produced by either a narrow relativistic jet or an isotropic outflow. High-spatial-resolution measurements of the source size and displacement can discriminate between these scenarios. We present very-long-baseline interferometry observations, performed 207.4 days after the merger by using a global network of 32 radio telescopes. The apparent source size is constrained to be smaller than 2.5 milli-arc seconds at the 90% confidence level. This excludes the isotropic outflow scenario, which would have produced a larger apparent size, indicating that GW170817 produced a structured relativistic jet. Our rate calculations show that at least 10% of neutron star mergers produce such a jet.

Författare

G. Ghirlanda

Universita' degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

O. S. Salafia

Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

Universita' degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

Z. Paragi

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

M. Giroletti

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

Jun Yang

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Onsala rymdobservatorium

B. Marcote

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

J. Blanchard

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

I. Agudo

Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucía (IAA)

T. An

Shanghai Astronomical Observatory

M. G. Bernardini

Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier

R. J. Beswick

University of Manchester

M. Branchesi

Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare

Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI)

S. Campana

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

C. Casadio

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

E. Chassande-Mottin

Université Paris Diderot

M. Colpi

Universita' degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare

S. Covino

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

P. D'Avanzo

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

V. D'Elia

Agenzia Spaziale Italiana

S. Frey

Magyar Tudomanyos Akademia

M. P. Gawroński

Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika

G. Ghisellini

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

L. I. Gurvits

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

TU Delft

P. G. Jonker

Radboud Universiteit

Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)

H. J. van Langevelde

Universiteit Leiden

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

A. Melandri

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

J. Moldon

University of Manchester

L. Nava

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

A. Perego

Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare

M.A. Pérez-Torres

Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucía (IAA)

Universidad de Zaragoza

C. Reynolds

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

R. Salvaterra

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

G. Tagliaferri

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

T. Venturi

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

S. D. Vergani

Observatoire de Paris-Meudon

M. Zhang

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Science

0036-8075 (ISSN) 1095-9203 (eISSN)

Vol. 363 6430 968-971

Ämneskategorier

Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi

DOI

10.1126/science.aau8815

PubMed

30792360

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Senast uppdaterat

2023-09-15