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Abstract The merger of a black hole (BH) and a neutron star (NS) in most cases is expected to leave no material around the remnant BH; therefore, such events are often considered as sources of gravitational waves without electromagnetic counterparts. However, a bright counterpart can emerge if the NS is strongly magnetized, as its external magnetosphere can experience radiative shocks and magnetic reconnection during/after the merger. We use magnetohydrodynamic simulations in the dynamical spacetime of a merging BH–NS binary to investigate its magnetospheric dynamics. We find that compressive waves excited in the magnetosphere develop into monster shocks as they propagate outward. After swallowing the NS, the BH acquires a magnetosphere that quickly evolves into a split-monopole configuration and then undergoes an exponential decay (balding), enabled by magnetic reconnection and also assisted by the ringdown of the remnant BH. This spinning BH drags the split monopole into rotation, forming a transient pulsar-like state. It emits a striped wind if the swallowed magnetic-dipole moment is inclined to the spin axis. We predict two types of transients from this scenario: (1) a fast radio burst emitted by the shocks as they expand to large radii; and (2) an X-ray/γ-ray burst emitted by thee±outflow heated by magnetic dissipation.
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Current Sheet Alignment in Oblique Black Hole Magnetospheres: A Black Hole Pulsar?
Abstract We study the magnetospheric evolution of a nonaccreting spinning black hole (BH) with an initially inclined split monopole magnetic field by means of 3D general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations. This serves as a model for a neutron star (NS) collapse or a BH–NS merger remnant after the inherited magnetosphere has settled into a split monopole field creating a striped wind. We show that the initially inclined split monopolar current sheet aligns over time with the BH equatorial plane. The inclination angle evolves exponentially toward alignment, with an alignment timescale that is inversely proportional to the square of the BH angular velocity, where higher spin results in faster alignment. Furthermore, magnetic reconnection in the current sheet leads to exponential decay of event-horizon-penetrating magnetic flux with nearly the same timescale for all considered BH spins. In addition, we present relations for the BH mass and spin in terms of the period and alignment timescale of the striped wind. The explored scenario of a rotating, aligning, and reconnecting current sheet can potentially lead to multimessenger electromagnetic counterparts to a gravitational-wave event due to the acceleration of particles powering high-energy radiation, plasmoid mergers resulting in coherent radio signals, and pulsating emission due to the initial misalignment of the BH magnetosphere.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2206609
- PAR ID:
- 10539874
- Publisher / Repository:
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters
- Volume:
- 968
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-8205
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- L10
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad4a5b
