Thunder and Lightning: Using Neutron-Star Mergers as Simultaneous Standard Candles and Sirens to Measure Cosmological Parameters
arXiv:1912.12218 · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab7cd8
Abstract
With the detection of gravitational wave (GW) GW170817 and its associated electromagnetic (EM) counterparts from a binary neutron star (NS) merger, the "standard siren" method for Hubble-constant measurements is expected to play a role in the Hubble-constant tension in the next few years. One intriguing proposal put forward in multiple studies is to use an NS merger's optical counterpart, known as a kilonova, as a standard candle, because its absolute magnitude can in principle be calculated from simulations. In this work, I detail the statistical framework for performing joint standard-candle and standard-siren measurements using GWs, EM follow-up data, and simulations of EM counterparts. I then perform an example analysis using GW170817 and its optical counterpart AT2017gfo to illustrate the method and the method's limitations. Crucially, the inferences using this method are only as robust as the EM counterpart models, so significant theoretical advances are needed before this method can be employed for precision cosmology.
arXiv comment10 pages, 2 figures
References in corpus (31)
- The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
- GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
- A 2.4% Determination of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant
- Origin of the heavy elements in binary neutron-star mergers from a gravitational wave event
- Spectroscopic identification of r-process nucleosynthesis in a double neutron star merger
- A kilonova as the electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational-wave source
- Using gravitational-wave standard sirens
- Kilonovae
- Binary Neutron Star Mergers: Mass Ejection, Electromagnetic Counterparts and Nucleosynthesis
- A 2 per cent Hubble constant measurement from standard sirens within 5 years
- First measurement of the Hubble constant from a dark standard siren using the Dark Energy Survey galaxies and the LIGO/Virgo binary-black-hole merger GW170814
- Multi-messenger Bayesian parameter inference of a binary neutron-star merger
- Estimating the Contribution of Dynamical Ejecta in the Kilonova Associated with GW170817
- Constraints on the neutron star equation of state from AT2017gfo using radiative transfer simulations
- Matter imprints in waveform models for neutron star binaries: tidal and self-spin effects
- POSSIS: predicting spectra, light curves and polarization for multi-dimensional models of supernovae and kilonovae
- Triangulation of gravitational wave sources with a network of detectors
- Modeling dynamical ejecta from binary neutron star mergers and implications for electromagnetic counterparts
- GROWTH on S190425z: Searching thousands of square degrees to identify an optical or infrared counterpart to a binary neutron star merger with the Zwicky Transient Facility and Palomar Gattini IR
- Improved constraints on H0 from a combined analysis of gravitational-wave and electromagnetic emission from GW170817
- Follow-up of the Neutron Star Bearing Gravitational Wave Candidate Events S190425z and S190426c with MMT and SOAR
- Surrogate model for an aligned-spin effective one body waveform model of binary neutron star inspirals using Gaussian process regression
- Implications of the search for optical counterparts during the first six months of the Advanced LIGO's and Advanced Virgo's third observing run: possible limits on the ejecta mass and binary properties
- Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts During the First Advanced LIGO Observing Run and Implications for the Origin of GRB 150906B
- How Many Kilonovae Can Be Found in Past, Present, and Future Survey Datasets?
- On the possibility of GW190425 being a black hole--neutron star binary merger
- Unbiased Hubble constant estimation from binary neutron star mergers
- Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Optimizing Multi-Telescope Observations of Gravitational-Wave Counterparts
- A Search for Kilonovae in the Dark Energy Survey
- Constraining the observer angle of the kilonova AT2017gfo associated with GW170817: Implications for the Hubble constant
- Can Kilonova Light curves be Standardized?
Cited by in corpus (9)
- Forecast for cosmological parameter estimation with gravitational-wave standard sirens from the LISA-Taiji network
- Measuring the Hubble Constant with a sample of kilonovae
- Electromagnetic Signatures from the Tidal Tail of a Black Hole - Neutron Star Merger
- Interpolating Detailed Simulations of Kilonovae: Adaptive Learning and Parameter Inference Applications
- Measuring the Hubble constant with kilonovae using the Expanding Photosphere Method
- The potential role of binary neutron star merger afterglows in multimessenger cosmology
- Searching for Dark Clumps with Gravitational-Wave Detectors
- Constraining properties of neutron star merger outflows with radio observations
- Be careful in multi-messenger inference of the Hubble constant: A path forward for robust inference