Kim_2017_ApJL_850_L21.pdf (1.23 MB)
ALMA and GMRT Constraints on the Off-axis Gamma-Ray Burst 170817A from the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817
journal contribution
posted on 2018-01-23, 09:44 authored by S. Kim, S. Schulze, L. Resmi, J. González-López, A. B. Higgins, C. H. Ishwara-Chandra, F. E. Bauer, I. de Gregorio-Monsalvo, M. De Pasquale, A. de Ugarte Postigo, D. A. Kann, S. Martin, S. R. Oates, R. L. C. Starling, N. R. Tanvir, J. Buchner, S. Campana, Z. Cano, S. Covino, A. S. Fruchter, J. P. U. Fynbo, D. H. Hartmann, J. Hjorth, P. Jakobsson, A. J. Levan, D. Malesani, M. J. Michalowski, B. Milvang-Jensen, K. Misra, P. T. O'Brien, R. Sánchez-Ramírez, C. C. Thöne, D. J. Watson, K. WiersemaBinary neutron-star mergers (BNSMs) are among the most readily detectable gravitational-wave (GW) sources
with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). They are also thought to produce short
γ-ray bursts (SGRBs) and kilonovae that are powered by r-process nuclei. Detecting these phenomena
simultaneously would provide an unprecedented view of the physics during and after the merger of two compact
objects. Such a Rosetta Stone event was detected by LIGO/Virgo on 2017 August 17 at a distance of ∼44 Mpc.
We monitored the position of the BNSM with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at
338.5 GHz and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 1.4 GHz, from 1.4 to 44 days after the merger.
Our observations rule out any afterglow more luminous than ´ - - 3 10 erg s Hz 26 1 1 in these bands, probing >2–4
dex fainter than previous SGRB limits. We match these limits, in conjunction with public data announcing the
appearance of X-ray and radio emission in the weeks after the GW event, to templates of off-axis afterglows. Our
broadband modeling suggests that GW170817 was accompanied by an SGRB and that the γ-ray burst (GRB) jet,
powered by EAG,iso ~ 1050 erg, had a half-opening angle of ~20, and was misaligned by ~41 from our line of
sight. The data are also consistent with a more collimated jet: EAG,iso ~ 1051 erg, q1 2,jet obs ~ ~ 5 , 17 q . This is
the most conclusive detection of an off-axis GRB afterglow and the first associated with a BNSM-GW event to
date. We use the viewing angle estimates to infer the initial bulk Lorentz factor and true energy release of the burst.
Funding
We gratefully acknowledge support from: FONDECYT grant 3130488 (SK), FONDECYT grant 3160439 (J.B.), CONICYT grants Basal-CATA PFB-06/2007 (S.K., F.E.B., J.B.), FONDECYT Regular 1141218 (F.E.B., J.G.-L.), and Programa de Astronomia FONDO ALMA 2016 31160033 (J.G.-L.); the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism's Millennium Science Initiative through grant IC120009, awarded to The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, MAS (F.E.B., J.B.); the Science and Technology Facilities Council (A.B.H., R.L.C.S.); the Spanish research project AYA 2014-58381-P (C.C.T., A.d.U.P., D.A.K.); the Ramón y Cajal fellowship RyC-2012-09975 (A.d.U.P.); the Ramón y Cajal fellowship RyC-2012-09984 (C.C.T.); the 2016 BBVA Foundation Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators (A.d.U.P.); the Juan de la Cierva Incorporación fellowship IJCI-2015-26153 (D.A.K.); a VILLUM FONDEN Investigator grant (project number 16599; J.H.); the National Science Centre, Poland through the POLONEZ grant 2015/19/P/ST9/04010 (M.J.M.); the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 665778 (M.J.M.); the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship (S.R.O.); S.C. acknowledge partial funding from ASI-INAF grant I/004/11/3; R.S.-R. acknowledges support from ASI (Italian Space Agency) through the contract No. 2015-046-R.0 and from European Union Horizon 2020 Programme under the AHEAD project (grant agreement No. 654215). ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), MOST and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO and NAOJ. The GMRT is run by the National Center for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. L. Resmi thanks Suma Murthy and Swagat R. Das for discussions on radio interferometric analysis. This work made use of data supplie
History
Citation
Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2017, 850 (2), L21Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/Department of Physics and AstronomyVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
