paper

A Decline in the X-ray through Radio Emission from GW170817 Continues to Support an Off-Axis Structured Jet

arXiv:1805.02870 · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aad637

Abstract

We present new observations of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 at days post-merger, at radio (Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array; VLA), X-ray (Chandra X-ray Observatory) and optical (Hubble Space Telescope; HST) wavelengths. These observations provide the first evidence for a turnover in the X-ray light curve, mirroring a decline in the radio emission at significance. The radio-to-X-ray spectral energy distribution exhibits no evolution into the declining phase. Our full multi-wavelength dataset is consistent with the predicted behavior of our previously published models of a successful structured jet expanding into a low-density circumbinary medium, but pure cocoon models with a choked jet cannot be ruled out. If future observations continue to track our predictions, we expect that the radio and X-ray emission will remain detectable until days post-merger.

arXiv commentAccepted to ApJL. Updated version includes new VLA observations extending through 2018 June 2

References in corpus (39)

Cited by in corpus (144)