Modelling the delayed shock-breakout emission following jet-launching binary neutron star mergers via relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations simulations

Abstract

In binary neutron star (BNS) mergers launching a relativistic jet, an electromagnetic (EM) signal is produced when the jet-driven shock breaks out of the merger ejecta. The observed time delay of this shock-breakout (SBO) emission with respect to the gravitational-wave (GW) signal from the merger provides a powerful probe of the physical conditions governing jet launching and early-time jet propagation. Considering different models of jet propagation in realistic post-merger environments, we investigate the SBO emission and corresponding GW-EM delay that would be observed depending on the viewing angle and the assumed ejecta opacity. We performed relativistic MHD simulations of jets propagating through a post-merger environment directly imported from the outcome of a previous BNS merger simulation. We also introduced a specific procedure to faithfully reconstruct the early dynamical ejecta up to their natural front. The evolution was followed in 3D up to 0.6 s and then we continued imposing axisymmetry and an eight times higher resolution. Varying jet launching time and luminosity, we identified three representative models spanning regimes from early breakout to extended jet choking. For each case, we tracked the jet-driven forward shock up to the photosphere and computed the angle-dependent bolometric SBO luminosity, and taking into account non-radial photon propagation, relativistic Doppler shifts, and light-travel-time effects. We considered two opacity values spanning a factor of ten. We find that the GW-EM delay depends only weakly on both the viewing angle and the ejecta opacity, making it, at least for the limited set of configurations considered here, a robust diagnostic for constraining models. Comparing our three cases with GRB 170817A, we find smaller GW-EM delays. Reproducing the same delay will require a broader exploration of the parameter space.

20 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication on Astronomy & Astrophysics, figures in the journal version are color blind friendly