The LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA Collaboration recently detected gravitational waves (GWs) from the merger of black hole–neutron star (BHNS) binary systems GW200105 and GW200115. No coincident electromagnetic (EM) counterparts were detected. While the mass ratio and BH spin in both systems were not sufficient to tidally disrupt the NS outside the BH event horizon, other, magnetospheric mechanisms for EM emission exist in this regime and depend sensitively on the NS magnetic field strength. Combining GW measurements with EM flux upper limits, we place upper limits on the NS surface magnetic field strength above which magnetospheric emission models would have generated an observable EM counterpart. We consider fireball models powered by the black hole battery mechanism, where energy is output in gamma rays over ≲1 s. Consistency with no detection by Fermi-GBM or INTEGRAL SPI-ACS constrains the NS surface magnetic field to ≲1015G. Hence, joint GW detection and EM upper limits rule out the theoretical possibility that the NSs in GW200105 and GW200115, and the putative NS in GW190814, retain dipolar magnetic fields ≳1015G until merger. They also rule out formation scenarios where strongly magnetized magnetars quickly merge with BHs. We alternatively rule out operation of the BH-battery-powered fireball mechanism in these systems. This is the first multimessenger constraint on NS magnetic fields in BHNS systems and a novel approach to probe fields at this point in NS evolution. This demonstrates the constraining power that multimessenger analyses of BHNS mergers have on BHNS formation scenarios, NS magnetic field evolution, and the physics of BHNS magnetospheric interactions.
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10270660
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
- Volume:
- 8
- ISSN:
- 2296-987X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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ABSTRACT On 2017 August 17, Advanced LIGO and Virgo observed GW170817, the first gravitational-wave (GW) signal from a binary neutron star merger. It was followed by a short-duration gamma-ray burst, GRB 170817A, and by a non-thermal afterglow emission. In this work, a combined simultaneous fit of the electromagnetic (EM, specifically, afterglow) and GW domains is implemented, both using the posterior distribution of a GW standalone analysis as prior distribution to separately process the EM data, and fitting the EM and GW domains simultaneously. These approaches coincide mathematically, as long as the actual posterior of the GW analysis, and not an approximation, is used as prior for the EM analysis. We treat the viewing angle, θv, as shared parameter across the two domains. In the afterglow modelling with a Gaussian structured jet this parameter and the jet core angle, θc, are correlated, leading to high uncertainties on their values. The joint EM + GW analysis relaxes this degeneracy, reducing the uncertainty compared to an EM-only fit. We also apply our methodology to hypothetical GW170817-like events occurring in the next GW observing run at ∼140 and 70 Mpc. At 70 Mpc the existing EM degeneracy is broken, thanks to the inclusion of the GW domain in the analysis. At 140 Mpc, the EM-only fit cannot constrain θv nor θc because of the lack of detections in the afterglow rising phase. Folding the GW data into the analysis leads to tighter constraints on θv, still leaving θc unconstrained, requiring instruments with higher sensitivities, such as Athena.
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Abstract For the first ∼3 yrs after the binary neutron star merger event GW 170817, the radio and X-ray radiation has been dominated by emission from a structured relativistic off-axis jet propagating into a low-density medium with
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Abstract In 2017, the LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave (GW) detectors, in conjunction with electromagnetic (EM) astronomers, observed the first GW multimessenger astrophysical event, the binary neutron star (BNS) merger GW170817. This marked the beginning of a new era in multimessenger astrophysics. To discover further GW multimessenger events, we explore the synergies between the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and GW observations triggered by the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA Collaboration (LVK) detector network. TESS's extremely wide field of view (∼2300 deg2) means that it could overlap with large swaths of GW localizations, which often span hundreds of square degrees or more. In this work, we use a recently developed transient detection pipeline to search TESS data collected during the LVK’s third observing run, O3, for any EM counterparts. We find no obvious counterparts brighter than about 17th magnitude in the TESS bandpass. Additionally, we present end-to-end simulations of BNS mergers, including their detection in GWs and simulations of light curves, to identify TESS's kilonova discovery potential for the LVK's next observing run (O4). In the most optimistic case, TESS will observe up to one GW-found BNS merger counterpart per year. However, TESS may also find up to five kilonovae that did not trigger the LVK network, emphasizing that EM-triggered GW searches may play a key role in future kilonova detections. We also discuss how TESS can help place limits on EM emission from binary black hole mergers and rapidly exclude large sky areas for poorly localized GW events.
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2021.656907
