Compact radio emission indicates a structured jet was produced by a binary neutron star merger.

Journal

Science (New York, N.Y.)
ISSN: 1095-9203
Titre abrégé: Science
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 0404511

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
01 Mar 2019
Historique:
received: 24 07 2018
accepted: 06 02 2019
pubmed: 23 2 2019
medline: 23 2 2019
entrez: 23 2 2019
Statut: ppublish

Résumé

The binary neutron star merger event GW170817 was detected through both electromagnetic radiation and gravitational waves. Its afterglow emission may have been produced by either a narrow relativistic jet or an isotropic outflow. High-spatial-resolution measurements of the source size and displacement can discriminate between these scenarios. We present very-long-baseline interferometry observations, performed 207.4 days after the merger by using a global network of 32 radio telescopes. The apparent source size is constrained to be smaller than 2.5 milli-arc seconds at the 90% confidence level. This excludes the isotropic outflow scenario, which would have produced a larger apparent size, indicating that GW170817 produced a structured relativistic jet. Our rate calculations show that at least 10% of neutron star mergers produce such a jet.

Identifiants

DOI: 10.1126/science.aau8815 PMID: 30792360
pubmed: 30792360
pii: science.aau8815
doi: 10.1126/science.aau8815
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

968-971

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

Auteurs

G Ghirlanda (G)

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate, Italy. giancarlo.ghirlanda@brera.inaf.it omsharan.salafia@brera.inaf.it.
Dipartimento di Fisica G. Occhialini, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 3, IT-20126 Milano, Italy.
Sezione di Milano Bicocca, Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Piazza della Scienza 3, 20126 Milano, Italy.

O S Salafia (OS)

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate, Italy. giancarlo.ghirlanda@brera.inaf.it omsharan.salafia@brera.inaf.it.
Dipartimento di Fisica G. Occhialini, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 3, IT-20126 Milano, Italy.
Sezione di Milano Bicocca, Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Piazza della Scienza 3, 20126 Milano, Italy.

Z Paragi (Z)

Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), Oude Hoogeveensedijk 4, 7991 PD Dwingeloo, Netherlands.

M Giroletti (M)

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica-Istituto di Radioastronomia, via Gobetti 101, I40129, Bologna, Italia.

J Yang (J)

Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory, SE-439 92, Sweden.
Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 650216 Kunming, Yunnan, China.

B Marcote (B)

Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), Oude Hoogeveensedijk 4, 7991 PD Dwingeloo, Netherlands.

J Blanchard (J)

Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), Oude Hoogeveensedijk 4, 7991 PD Dwingeloo, Netherlands.

I Agudo (I)

Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n, E-18008, Granada, Spain.

T An (T)

Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200030 Shanghai, China.

M G Bernardini (MG)

Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier, Universitè de Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Institute National de Physique Nucleaire et Physique des Particules (CNRS/IN2P3), place Eugéne Bataillon, F-34085 Montpellier, France.

R Beswick (R)

Electronic Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network/Very Long Baseline Interferometry (e-MERLIN/VLBI) National Facility, Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.

M Branchesi (M)

Gran Sasso Science Institute, Viale F. Crispi 7, I-67100, L'Aquila, Italy.
Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, INFN, I-67100 L'Aquila, Italy.

S Campana (S)

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate, Italy.

C Casadio (C)

Max Planck Institute fur Radioastronomie, Auf dem Huegel 69, Bonn D-53121, Germany.

E Chassande-Mottin (E)

AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC), Université Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives/ Institute for Research on the Fundamental Laws of the Universe (CEA/IRFU), Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, F-75205 Paris Cedex 13, France.

M Colpi (M)

Dipartimento di Fisica G. Occhialini, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 3, IT-20126 Milano, Italy.
Sezione di Milano Bicocca, Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Piazza della Scienza 3, 20126 Milano, Italy.

S Covino (S)

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate, Italy.

P D'Avanzo (P)

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate, Italy.

V D'Elia (V)

Space Science Data Center, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Via del Politecnico, 00133, Roma, Italy.

S Frey (S)

Konkoly Observatory, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia (MTA) Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15-17, H-1121 Budapest, Hungary.

M Gawronski (M)

Centre for Astronomy, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Grudziadzka 5, 87-100 Torun, Poland.

G Ghisellini (G)

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate, Italy.

L I Gurvits (LI)

Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), Oude Hoogeveensedijk 4, 7991 PD Dwingeloo, Netherlands.
Department of Astrodynamics and Space Missions, Delft University of Technology, Kluyverweg 1, 2629 HS Delft, Netherlands.

P G Jonker (PG)

Space Research Organisation of the Netherlands (SRON), Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Sorbonnelaan 2, 3584 CA Utrecht, Netherlands.
Department of Astrophysics, Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP), Radboud University, Post Office Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, Netherlands.

H J van Langevelde (HJ)

Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), Oude Hoogeveensedijk 4, 7991 PD Dwingeloo, Netherlands.
Sterrewacht Leiden, Leiden University, Post Office Box 9513, NL-2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands.

A Melandri (A)

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate, Italy.

J Moldon (J)

Electronic Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network/Very Long Baseline Interferometry (e-MERLIN/VLBI) National Facility, Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.

L Nava (L)

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate, Italy.

A Perego (A)

Sezione di Milano Bicocca, Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Piazza della Scienza 3, 20126 Milano, Italy.

M A Perez-Torres (MA)

Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n, E-18008, Granada, Spain.
Departamento de Física Teórica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, E-50019, Spain.

C Reynolds (C)

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Astronomy and Space Science, PO Box 1130, Bentley WA 6102, Australia.

R Salvaterra (R)

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica cosmica (IASF), via E. Bassini 15, 20133 Milano, Italy.

G Tagliaferri (G)

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate, Italy.

T Venturi (T)

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica-Istituto di Radioastronomia, via Gobetti 101, I40129, Bologna, Italia.

S D Vergani (SD)

Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique et Instrumentation (GEPI) Observatoire de Paris, CNRS UMR 8111, Meudon, France.

M Zhang (M)

Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 150 Science 1-Street, Urumqi 831001, China.
Key Laboratory for Radio Astronomy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2 West Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China.

Classifications MeSH