Possible High-Energy Neutrino and Photon Signals from Gravitational Wave Bursts due to Double Neutron Star Mergers

Abstract

As the technology of gravitational-wave and neutrino detectors becomes increasingly mature, a multi-messenger era of astronomy is ushered in. Advanced gravitational wave detectors are close to making a ground-breaking discovery of gravitational wave bursts (GWBs) associated with mergers of double neutron stars (NS-NS). It is essential to study the possible electromagnetic (EM) and neutrino emission counterparts of these GWBs. Recent observations and numerical simulations suggest that at least a fraction of NS-NS mergers may leave behind a massive millisecond magnetar as the merger product. Here we show that protons accelerated in the forward shock powered by a magnetar wind pushing the ejecta launched during the merger process would interact with photons generated in the dissipating magnetar wind and emit high energy neutrinos and photons. We estimate the typical energy and fluence of the neutrinos from such a scenario. We find that $\sim$PeV neutrinos could be emitted from the shock front as long as the ejecta could be accelerated to a relativistic speed. The diffuse neutrino flux from these events, even under the most optimistic scenarios, is too low to account for the two events announced by the IceCube Collaboration, but it is only slightly lower than the diffuse flux of GRBs, making it an important candidate for the diffuse background of $\sim$PeV neutrinos. The neutron-pion decay of these events make them a moderate contributor to the sub-TeV gamma-ray diffuse background.

Accepted for publication in PRD, minor revision

References in corpus (10)

• LIGO: The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
• Tests of general relativity from timing the double pulsar
• The Nuclear Equation of State and Neutron Star Masses
• The Internal-Collision-Induced Magnetic Reconnection and Turbulence (ICMART) Model of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• The Spectrum of the Isotropic Diffuse Gamma-Ray Emission Derived From First-Year Fermi Large Area Telescope Data
• X-Ray Flares from Postmerger Millisecond Pulsars
• Formation of Stable Magnetars from Binary Neutron Star Mergers
• GRB afterglow plateaus and Gravitational Waves: multi-messenger signature of a millisecond magnetar?
• Constraining Very Heavy Dark Matter Using Diffuse Backgrounds of Neutrinos and Cascaded Gamma Rays
• Gamma-Ray and Neutrino Backgrounds as Probes of the High-Energy Universe: Hints of Cascades, General Constraints, and Implications for TeV Searches

Cited by in corpus (21)

• Search for High-energy Neutrinos from Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817 with ANTARES, IceCube, and the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Neutrino-dominated accretion flows as the central engine of gamma-ray bursts
• Spectral analysis of the high-energy IceCube neutrinos
• Demystifying the PeV Cascades in IceCube: Less (Energy) is More (Events)
• High-Energy Neutrinos from Millisecond Magnetars formed from the Merger of Binary Neutron Stars
• Cosmic-Ray Neutrinos from the Decay of Long-Lived Particle and the Recent IceCube Result
• Analysis of the 4-year IceCube high-energy starting events
• Repeating and Non-repeating Fast Radio Bursts from Binary Neutron Star Mergers
• A Bayesian approach to multi-messenger astronomy: Identification of gravitational-wave host galaxies
• High-Energy Radiation from Remnants of Neutron Star Binary Mergers
• Probing decaying heavy dark matter with the 4-year IceCube HESE data
• Boosted Dark Matter and its implications for the features in IceCube HESE data
• Multi-Messenger Physics with the Pierre Auger Observatory
• High-energy neutrinos from fallback accretion of binary neutron star merger remnants
• Upscattered Cocoon Emission in Short Gamma-ray Bursts as High-energy Gamma-ray Counterparts to Gravitational Waves
• Evolutions of stellar-mass black hole hyperaccretion systems in the center of gamma-ray bursts
• Observing cosmological binary mergers with next generation neutrino and gravitational wave detectors
• The spectrum and flavor composition of the astrophysical neutrinos in IceCube
• A Summary of Multimessenger Science with Neutron Star Mergers
• High-energy neutrino signatures from pulsar remnants of binary neutron-star mergers: coincident detection prospects with gravitational waves
• Hadronic Processes, Plasma Evolution and Neutrino Emission in Magnetic Towers of Neutron-Star Merger Remnants