@article{AbdallaAbramowskiAharonianetal.2017, author = {Abdalla, Hassan E. and Abramowski, Attila and Aharonian, Felix A. and Benkhali, Faical Ait and Anguner, Ekrem Oǧuzhan and Arakawa, M. and Arrieta, M. and Aubert, Pierre and Backes, Michael and Balzer, Arnim and Barnard, Michelle and Becherini, Yvonne and Tjus, J. Becker and Berge, David and Bernhard, Sabrina and Bernl{\"o}hr, K. and Blackwell, R. and B{\"o}ttcher, Markus and Boisson, Catherine and Bolmont, J. and Bonnefoy, S. and Bordas, Pol and Bregeon, Johan and Brun, Francois and Brun, Pierre and Bryan, Mark and Buechele, M. and Bulik, Tomasz and Capasso, M. and Caroff, S. and Carosi, A. and Casanova, Sabrina and Cerruti, M. and Chakraborty, N. and Chaves, Ryan C. G. and Chen, Andrew and Chevalier, J. and Colafrancesco, Sergio and Condon, B. and Conrad, Jan and Davids, I. D. and Decock, J. and Deil, C. and Devin, J. and deWilt, P. and Dirson, L. and Djannati-Atai, A. and Donath, A. and Dutson, K. and Dyks, J. and Edwards, T. and Egberts, Kathrin and Emery, G. and Ernenwein, J. -P. and Eschbach, S. and Farnier, C. and Fegan, S. and Fernandes, M. V. and Fiasson, A. and Fontaine, G. and Funk, S. and Fuessling, M. and Gabici, S. and Gallant, Y. A. and Garrigoux, T. and Gate, F. and Giavitto, G. and Giebels, B. and Glawion, D. and Glicenstein, J. F. and Gottschall, D. and Grondin, M. -H. and Hahn, J. and Haupt, M. and Hawkes, J. and Heinzelmann, G. and Henri, G. and Hermann, G. and Hinton, James Anthony and Hofmann, W. and Hoischen, Clemens and Holch, Tim Lukas and Holler, M. and Horns, D. and Ivascenko, A. and Iwasaki, H. and Jacholkowska, A. and Jamrozy, M. and Jankowsky, D. and Jankowsky, F. and Jingo, M. and Jouvin, L. and Jung-Richardt, I. and Kastendieck, M. A. and Katarzynski, K. and Katsuragawa, M. and Katz, U. and Kerszberg, D. and Khangulyan, D. and Khelifi, B. and King, J. and Klepser, S. and Klochkov, D. and Kluzniak, W. and Komin, Nu. and Kosack, K. and Krakau, S. and Kraus, M. and Kruer, P. P. and Laffon, H. and Lamanna, G. and Lau, J. and Lees, J. -P. and Lefaucheur, J. and Lemiere, A. and Lemoine-Goumard, M. and Lenain, J. -P. and Leser, Eva and Lohse, T. and Lorentz, M. and Liu, R. and Lopez-Coto, R. and Lypova, I. and Malyshev, D. and Marandon, V. and Marcowith, Alexandre and Mariaud, C. and Marx, R. and Maurin, G. and Maxted, N. and Mayer, M. and Meintjes, P. J. and Meyer, M. and Mitchell, A. M. W. and Moderski, R. and Mohamed, M. and Mohrmann, L. and Mora, K. and Moulin, Emmanuel and Murach, T. and Nakashima, S. and de Naurois, M. and Ndiyavala, H. and Niederwanger, F. and Niemiec, J. and Oakes, L. and Odaka, H. and Ohm, S. and Ostrowski, M. and Oya, I. and Padovani, M. and Panter, M. and Parsons, R. D. and Pekeur, N. W. and Pelletier, G. and Perennes, C. and Petrucci, P. -O. and Peyaud, B. and Piel, Q. and Pita, S. and Poireau, V. and Poon, H. and Prokhorov, D. and Prokoph, H. and Puehlhofer, G. and Punch, M. and Quirrenbach, A. and Raab, S. and Rauth, R. and Reimer, A. and Reimer, O. and Renaud, M. and de los Reyes, R. and Rieger, F. and Rinchiuso, L. and Romoli, C. and Rowell, G. and Rudak, B. and Rulten, C. B. and Sahakian, V. and Saito, S. and Sanchez, David M. and Santangelo, A. and Sasaki, M. and Schlickeiser, R. and Schussler, F. and Schulz, A. and Schwanke, U. and Schwemmer, S. and Seglar-Arroyo, M. and Settimo, M. and Seyffert, A. S. and Shafi, N. and Shilon, I. and Shiningayamwe, K. and Simoni, R. and Sol, H. and Spanier, F. and Spir-Jacob, M. and Stawarz, L. and Steenkamp, R. and Stegmann, Christian and Steppa, Constantin Beverly and Sushch, Iurii and Takahashi, T. and Tavernet, J. -P. and Tavernier, T. and Taylor, A. M. and Terrier, R. and Tibaldo, L. and Tiziani, D. and Tluczykont, M. and Trichard, C. and Tsirou, M. and Tsuji, N. and Tuffs, R. and Uchiyama, Y. and van der Walt, D. J. and van Eldik, C. and van Rensburg, C. and van Soelen, B. and Vasileiadis, G. and Veh, J. and Venter, C. and Viana, A. and Vincent, P. and Vink, J. and Voisin, F. and Voelk, H. J. and Vuillaume, T. and Wadiasingh, Z. and Wagner, S. J. and Wagner, P. and Wagner, R. M. and White, R. and Wierzcholska, A. and Willmann, P. and Woernlein, A. and Wouters, D. and Yang, R. and Zaborov, D. and Zacharias, M. and Zanin, R. and Zdziarski, A. A. and Zech, Alraune and Zefi, F. and Ziegler, A. and Zorn, J. and Zywucka, N.}, title = {TeV Gamma-Ray Observations of the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817 with HESS}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, volume = {850}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, organization = {HESS Collaboration}, issn = {2041-8205}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/aa97d2}, pages = {628 -- 650}, year = {2017}, abstract = {We search for high-energy gamma-ray emission from the binary neutron star merger GW170817 with the H.E.S.S. Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes. The observations presented here have been obtained starting only 5.3 hr after GW170817. The H.E.S.S. target selection identified regions of high probability to find a counterpart of the gravitational-wave event. The first of these regions contained the counterpart SSS17a that has been identified in the optical range several hours after our observations. We can therefore present the first data obtained by a ground-based pointing instrument on this object. A subsequent monitoring campaign with the H.E.S.S. telescopes extended over several days, covering timescales from 0.22 to 5.2 days and energy ranges between 270 GeV to 8.55 TeV. No significant gamma-ray emission has been found. The derived upper limits on the very-high-energy gamma-ray flux for the first time constrain non-thermal, high-energy emission following the merger of a confirmed binary neutron star system.}, language = {en} } @misc{BullaCoughlinDhawanetal.2022, author = {Bulla, Mattia and Coughlin, Michael W. and Dhawan, Suhail and Dietrich, Tim}, title = {Multi-messenger constraints on the Hubble constant through combination of gravitational waves, gamma-ray bursts and kilonovae from neutron star mergers}, series = {Universe : open access journal}, volume = {8}, journal = {Universe : open access journal}, number = {5}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2218-1997}, doi = {10.3390/universe8050289}, pages = {21}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The simultaneous detection of gravitational waves and light from the binary neutron star merger GW170817 led to independent measurements of distance and redshift, providing a direct estimate of the Hubble constant H-0 that does not rely on a cosmic distance ladder, nor assumes a specific cosmological model. By using gravitational waves as "standard sirens", this approach holds promise to arbitrate the existing tension between the H-0 value inferred from the cosmic microwave background and those obtained from local measurements. However, the known degeneracy in the gravitational-wave analysis between distance and inclination of the source led to a H-0 value from GW170817 that was not precise enough to resolve the existing tension. In this review, we summarize recent works exploiting the viewing-angle dependence of the electromagnetic signal, namely the associated short gamma-ray burst and kilonova, to constrain the system inclination and improve on H-0. We outline the key ingredients of the different methods, summarize the results obtained in the aftermath of GW170817 and discuss the possible systematics introduced by each of these methods.}, language = {en} } @article{HainichOskinovaShenaretal.2018, author = {Hainich, Rainer and Oskinova, Lida and Shenar, Tomer and Marchant Campos, Pablo and Eldridge, J. J. and Sander, Andreas Alexander Christoph and Hamann, Wolf-Rainer and Langer, Norbert and Todt, Helge Tobias}, title = {Observational properties of massive black hole binary progenitors}, series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, volume = {609}, journal = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, address = {Les Ulis}, issn = {1432-0746}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201731449}, pages = {62}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Context: The first directly detected gravitational waves (GW 150914) were emitted by two coalescing black holes (BHs) with masses of ≈ 36 M⊙ and ≈ 29 M⊙. Several scenarios have been proposed to put this detection into an astrophysical context. The evolution of an isolated massive binary system is among commonly considered models. Aims: Various groups have performed detailed binary-evolution calculations that lead to BH merger events. However, the question remains open as to whether binary systems with the predicted properties really exist. The aim of this paper is to help observers to close this gap by providing spectral characteristics of massive binary BH progenitors during a phase where at least one of the companions is still non-degenerate. Methods: Stellar evolution models predict fundamental stellar parameters. Using these as input for our stellar atmosphere code (Potsdam Wolf-Rayet), we compute a set of models for selected evolutionary stages of massive merging BH progenitors at different metallicities. Results: The synthetic spectra obtained from our atmosphere calculations reveal that progenitors of massive BH merger events start their lives as O2-3V stars that evolve to early-type blue supergiants before they undergo core-collapse during the Wolf-Rayet phase. When the primary has collapsed, the remaining system will appear as a wind-fed high-mass X-ray binary. Based on our atmosphere models, we provide feedback parameters, broad band magnitudes, and spectral templates that should help to identify such binaries in the future. Conclusions: While the predicted parameter space for massive BH binary progenitors is partly realized in nature, none of the known massive binaries match our synthetic spectra of massive BH binary progenitors exactly. Comparisons of empirically determined mass-loss rates with those assumed by evolution calculations reveal significant differences. The consideration of the empirical mass-loss rates in evolution calculations will possibly entail a shift of the maximum in the predicted binary-BH merger rate to higher metallicities, that is, more candidates should be expected in our cosmic neighborhood than previously assumed.}, language = {en} } @article{HosseinzadehCowperthwaiteGomezetal.2019, author = {Hosseinzadeh, Griffin and Cowperthwaite, Philip S. and Gomez, Sebastian and Villar, Victoria Ashley and Nicholl, Matt and Margutti, Raffaella and Berger, Edo and Chornock, Ryan and Paterson, Kerry and Fong, Wen-fai and Savchenko, Volodymyr and Short, Phil and Alexander, Kate D. and Blanchard, Peter K. and Braga, Joao and Calkins, Michael L. and Cartier, Regis and Coppejans, Deanne L. and Eftekhari, Tarraneh and Laskar, Tanmoy and Ly, Chun and Patton, Locke and Pelisoli, Ingrid Domingos and Reichart, Daniel E. and Terreran, Giacomo and Williams, Peter K. G.}, title = {Follow-up of the Neutron Star Bearing Gravitational-wave Candidate Events S190425z and S190426c with MMT and SOAR}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, volume = {880}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters}, number = {1}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {2041-8205}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/ab271c}, pages = {14}, year = {2019}, abstract = {On 2019 April 25.346 and 26.640 UT the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo gravitational-wave (GW) observatory announced the detection of the first candidate events in Observing Run 3 that contained at least one neutron star (NS). S190425z is a likely binary neutron star (BNS) merger at d(L) = 156 +/- 41 Mpc, while S190426c is possibly the first NS-black hole (BH) merger ever detected, at d(L) = 377 +/- 100 Mpc, although with marginal statistical significance. Here we report our optical follow-up observations for both events using the MMT 6.5 m telescope, as well as our spectroscopic follow-up of candidate counterparts (which turned out to be unrelated) with the 4.1 m SOAR telescope. We compare to publicly reported searches, explore the overall areal coverage and depth, and evaluate those in relation to the optical/near-infrared (NIR) kilonova emission from the BNS merger GW170817, to theoretical kilonova models, and to short gamma-ray burst (SGRB) afterglows. We find that for a GW170817-like kilonova, the partial volume covered spans up to about 40\% for S190425z and 60\% for S190426c. For an on-axis jet typical of SGRBs, the search effective volume is larger, but such a configuration is expected in at most a few percent of mergers. We further find that wide-field gamma-ray and X-ray limits rule out luminous on-axis SGRBs, for a large fraction of the localization regions, although these searches are not sufficiently deep in the context of the gamma-ray emission from GW170817 or off-axis SGRB afterglows. The results indicate that some optical follow-up searches are sufficiently deep for counterpart identification to about 300 Mpc, but that localizations better than 1000 deg(2) are likely essential.}, language = {en} } @article{NedoraRadiceBernuzzietal.2021, author = {Nedora, Vsevolod and Radice, David and Bernuzzi, Sebastiano and Perego, Albino and Daszuta, Boris and Endrizzi, Andrea and Prakash, Aviral and Schianchi, Federico}, title = {Dynamical ejecta synchrotron emission as a possible contributor to the changing behaviour of GRB170817A afterglow}, series = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, volume = {506}, journal = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, number = {4}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0035-8711}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stab2004}, pages = {5908 -- 5915}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Over the past 3 yr, the fading non-thermal emission from the GW170817 remained generally consistent with the afterglow powered by synchrotron radiation produced by the interaction of the structured jet with the ambient medium. Recent observations by Hajela et al. indicate the change in temporal and spectral behaviour in the X-ray band. We show that the new observations are compatible with the emergence of a new component due to non-thermal emission from the fast tail of the dynamical ejecta of ab-initio binary neutron star merger simulations. This provides a new avenue to constrain binary parameters. Specifically, we find that equal mass models with soft equations of state (EOSs) and high-mass ratio models with stiff EOSs are disfavoured as they typically predict afterglows that peak too early to explain the recent observations. Moderate stiffness and mass ratio models, instead, tend to be in good overall agreement with the data.}, language = {en} }