MODELS OF KILONOVA/MACRONOVA EMISSION FROM BLACK HOLE–NEUTRON STAR MERGERS

Journal Article · Fri Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2016 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/825/1/52· OSTI ID:22666136

Kawaguchi, Kyohei; Shibata, Masaru ^[1]; Kyutoku, Koutarou ^[2]; Tanaka, Masaomi ^[3]

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1. Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan)
2. Interdisciplinary Theoretical Science (iTHES) Research Group, RIKEN, Wako, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan)
3. National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Tokyo (Japan)

Black hole–neutron star (BH–NS) mergers are among the most promising gravitational-wave sources for ground-based detectors, and gravitational waves from BH–NS mergers are expected to be detected in the next few years. The simultaneous detection of electromagnetic counterparts with gravitational waves would provide rich information about merger events. Among the possible electromagnetic counterparts from BH–NS mergers is the so-called kilonova/macronova, emission powered by the decay of radioactive r-process nuclei, which is one of the best targets for follow-up observations. We derive fitting formulas for the mass and the velocity of ejecta from a generic BH–NS merger based on recently performed numerical-relativity simulations. We combine these fitting formulas with a new semi-analytic model for a BH–NS kilonova/macronova lightcurve, which reproduces the results of radiation-transfer simulations. Specifically, the semi-analytic model reproduces the results of each band magnitude obtained by the previous radiation-transfer simulations within ∼1 mag. By using this semi-analytic model we found that, at 400 Mpc, the kilonova/macronova is as bright as 22–24 mag for cases with a small chirp mass and a high black hole spin, and >28 mag for a large chirp mass and a low black hole spin. We also apply our model to GRB 130603B as an illustration, and show that a BH–NS merger with a rapidly spinning black hole and a large neutron star radius is favored.

• OSTI ID: 22666136
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 825; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BLACK HOLES
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
DECAY
DETECTION
EMISSION
EQUATIONS OF STATE
GAMMA RADIATION
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
MASS
NEUTRON STARS
R PROCESS
RADIANT HEAT TRANSFER
SIMULATION
SPIN
VELOCITY