Light curves of the neutron star merger GW170817/SSS17a: Implications for r-process nucleosynthesis

doi:10.1126/science.aaq0049

. 2017 Dec 22;358(6370):1570-1574.

doi: 10.1126/science.aaq0049. Epub 2017 Oct 16.

Light curves of the neutron star merger GW170817/SSS17a: Implications for r-process nucleosynthesis

M R Drout¹, A L Piro², B J Shappee^{2

3}, C D Kilpatrick⁴, J D Simon², C Contreras⁵, D A Coulter⁴, R J Foley⁴, M R Siebert⁴, N Morrell⁵, K Boutsia⁵, F Di Mille⁵, T W-S Holoien², D Kasen^{6

7}, J A Kollmeier², B F Madore², A J Monson^{2

8}, A Murguia-Berthier⁴, Y-C Pan⁴, J X Prochaska⁴, E Ramirez-Ruiz^{4

9}, A Rest^{10

11}, C Adams¹², K Alatalo^{2

10}, E Bañados², J Baughman^{13

14}, T C Beers^{15

16}, R A Bernstein², T Bitsakis¹⁷, A Campillay¹⁸, T T Hansen², C R Higgs^{19

20}, A P Ji², G Maravelias²¹, J L Marshall²², C Moni Bidin²³, J L Prieto^{14

24}, K C Rasmussen^{15

16}, C Rojas-Bravo⁴, A L Strom², N Ulloa¹⁸, J Vargas-González⁵, Z Wan²⁵, D D Whitten^{15

16}

Affiliations

¹ The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA. mdrout@carnegiescience.edu.
² The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA.
³ Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai'i, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
⁴ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
⁵ Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Observatories, Casilla 601, La Serena, Chile.
⁶ Departments of Physics and Astronomy, 366 LeConte Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁷ Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁸ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
⁹ Dark Cosmology Center, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁰ Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
¹¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
¹² Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
¹³ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
¹⁴ Núcleo de Astronomía de la Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales, Avenida Ejército 441, Santiago, Chile.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
¹⁶ Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, Center for the Evolution of the Elements, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
¹⁷ Instituto de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, C.P. 58190, Morelia, Mexico.
¹⁸ Departamento de Física y Astronomía, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de La Serena, Cisternas 1200, La Serena, Chile.
¹⁹ University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
²⁰ National Research Council Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, British Columbia V9E 2E7, Canada.
²¹ Instituto de Física y Astronomía, Universidad de Valparaíso, Avenida Gran Bretaña 1111, Casilla 5030, Valparaíso, Chile.
²² George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
²³ Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Católica del Norte, Avenida Angamos 0610, Antofagasta, Chile.
²⁴ Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Santiago, Chile.
²⁵ Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, A28, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.

PMID: 29038375
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaq0049

Light curves of the neutron star merger GW170817/SSS17a: Implications for r-process nucleosynthesis

M R Drout et al. Science. 2017.

. 2017 Dec 22;358(6370):1570-1574.

doi: 10.1126/science.aaq0049. Epub 2017 Oct 16.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA. mdrout@carnegiescience.edu.
² The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA.
³ Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai'i, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
⁴ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
⁵ Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Observatories, Casilla 601, La Serena, Chile.
⁶ Departments of Physics and Astronomy, 366 LeConte Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁷ Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁸ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
⁹ Dark Cosmology Center, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁰ Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
¹¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
¹² Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
¹³ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
¹⁴ Núcleo de Astronomía de la Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales, Avenida Ejército 441, Santiago, Chile.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
¹⁶ Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, Center for the Evolution of the Elements, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
¹⁷ Instituto de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, C.P. 58190, Morelia, Mexico.
¹⁸ Departamento de Física y Astronomía, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de La Serena, Cisternas 1200, La Serena, Chile.
¹⁹ University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
²⁰ National Research Council Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, British Columbia V9E 2E7, Canada.
²¹ Instituto de Física y Astronomía, Universidad de Valparaíso, Avenida Gran Bretaña 1111, Casilla 5030, Valparaíso, Chile.
²² George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
²³ Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Católica del Norte, Avenida Angamos 0610, Antofagasta, Chile.
²⁴ Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Santiago, Chile.
²⁵ Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, A28, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.

PMID: 29038375
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaq0049

Abstract

On 17 August 2017, gravitational waves (GWs) were detected from a binary neutron star merger, GW170817, along with a coincident short gamma-ray burst, GRB 170817A. An optical transient source, Swope Supernova Survey 17a (SSS17a), was subsequently identified as the counterpart of this event. We present ultraviolet, optical, and infrared light curves of SSS17a extending from 10.9 hours to 18 days postmerger. We constrain the radioactively powered transient resulting from the ejection of neutron-rich material. The fast rise of the light curves, subsequent decay, and rapid color evolution are consistent with multiple ejecta components of differing lanthanide abundance. The late-time light curve indicates that SSS17a produced at least ~0.05 solar masses of heavy elements, demonstrating that neutron star mergers play a role in rapid neutron capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis in the universe.

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Light curves of the neutron star merger GW170817/SSS17a: Implications for r-process nucleosynthesis

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Light curves of the neutron star merger GW170817/SSS17a: Implications for r-process nucleosynthesis

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