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ABSTRACT Neutron star mergers produce a substantial amount of fast-moving ejecta, expanding outwardly for years after the merger. The interaction of these ejecta with the surrounding medium may produce a weak isotropic radio remnant, detectable in relatively nearby events. We use late-time radio observations of short duration gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) to constrain this model. Two samples of events were studied: four sGRBs that are possibly in the local (<200 Mpc) Universe were selected to constrain the remnant non-thermal emission from the sub-relativistic ejecta, whereas 17 sGRBs at cosmological distances were used to constrain the presence of a proto-magnetar central engine, possibly re-energizing the merger ejecta. We consider the case of GRB 170817A/GW170817 and find that in this case the early radio emission may be quenched by the jet blast-wave. In all cases, for ejecta mass range of ${M}_{\rm {ej}}\lesssim 10^{-2}\, (5\times 10^{-2})\, \mathrm{M}_\odot$, we can rule out very energetic merger ejecta ${E}_{\rm {ej}}\gtrsim 5\times 10^{52}\, (10^{53})\, \rm erg$, thus excluding the presence of a powerful magnetar as a merger remnant. 

The nature of dark matter and properties of neutrinos are among the most pressing issues in contemporary particle physics. The dual-phase xenon time-projection chamber is the leading technology to cover the available parameter space for weakly interacting massive particles, while featuring extensive sensitivity to many alternative dark matter candidates. These detectors can also study neutrinos through neutrinoless double-beta decay and through a variety of astrophysical sources. A next-generation xenon-based detector will therefore be a true multi-purpose observatory to significantly advance particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, solar physics, and cosmology. This review article presents the science cases for such a detector.