ALMA and GMRT Constraints on the Off-axis Gamma-Ray Burst 170817A from the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817

S. Kim; S. Schulze; L. Resmi; J. González-López; A. B. Higgins; C. H. Ishwara-Chandra; F. E. Bauer; I. De Gregorio-Monsalvo; M. De Pasquale; A. De Ugarte Postigo; D. A. Kann; S. Martín; S. R. Oates; R. L.C. Starling; N. R. Tanvir; J. Buchner; S. Campana; Z. Cano; S. Covino; A. S. Fruchter; J. P.U. Fynbo; D. H. Hartmann; J. Hjorth; P. Jakobsson; A. J. Levan; D. Malesani; M. J. Michałowski; B. Milvang-Jensen; K. Misra; P. T. O'Brien; R. Sánchez-Ramírez; C. C. Thöne; D. J. Watson; K. Wiersema

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa970b

ALMA and GMRT Constraints on the Off-axis Gamma-Ray Burst 170817A from the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817

S. Kim, S. Schulze, L. Resmi, J. González-López, A. B. Higgins, C. H. Ishwara-Chandra, F. E. Bauer, I. De Gregorio-Monsalvo, M. De Pasquale, A. De Ugarte Postigo, D. A. Kann, S. Martín, S. R. Oates, R. L.C. Starling, N. R. Tanvir, J. Buchner, S. Campana, Z. Cano, S. Covino, A. S. FruchterJ. P.U. Fynbo, D. H. Hartmann, J. Hjorth, P. Jakobsson, A. J. Levan, D. Malesani, M. J. Michałowski, B. Milvang-Jensen, K. Misra, P. T. O'Brien, R. Sánchez-Ramírez, C. C. Thöne, D. J. Watson, K. Wiersema

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Abstract

Binary neutron-star mergers (BNSMs) are among the most readily detectable gravitational-wave (GW) sources with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). They are also thought to produce short γ-ray bursts (SGRBs) and kilonovae that are powered by r-process nuclei. Detecting these phenomena simultaneously would provide an unprecedented view of the physics during and after the merger of two compact objects. Such a Rosetta Stone event was detected by LIGO/Virgo on 2017 August 17 at a distance of ∼44 Mpc. We monitored the position of the BNSM with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 338.5 GHz and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 1.4 GHz, from 1.4 to 44 days after the merger. Our observations rule out any afterglow more luminous than 3 × 10²⁶ erg s^-1 Hz^-1 in these bands, probing >2-4 dex fainter than previous SGRB limits. We match these limits, in conjunction with public data announcing the appearance of X-ray and radio emission in the weeks after the GW event, to templates of off-axis afterglows. Our broadband modeling suggests that GW170817 was accompanied by an SGRB and that the γ-ray burst (GRB) jet, powered by E_AG,iso ∼ 10⁵⁰erg, had a half-opening angle of ∼20°, and was misaligned by ∼40° from our line of sight. The data are also consistent with a more collimated jet: E_AG,iso ∼ 10⁵¹ erg, θ_{1/2, jet} ∼ 5°, θ_obs ∼ 17°. This is the most conclusive detection of an off-axis GRB afterglow and the first associated with a BNSM-GW event to date. We use the viewing angle estimates to infer the initial bulk Lorentz factor and true energy release of the burst.

Original language	English
Article number	L21
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume	850
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aa970b
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2017

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the referee for a careful reading of the manuscript and for helpful comments that improved this paper. We gratefully acknowledge support from: FONDECYT grant 3130488 (SK), FONDECYT grant 3160439 (J.B.), We observed the position of AT2017gfo with ALMA and GMRT at 338.5 and 1.4 GHz, respectively, from 1.4 days to 44 days after the merger, our objective being to constrain the GRB afterglow component. The afterglow evaded detection at all epochs. Our radio and sub-mm observations allow us to place a CONICYT grants Basal-CATA PFB-06/2007 (S.K., F.E.B., J.B.), FONDECYT Regular 1141218 (F.E.B., J.G.-L.), and Programa de Astronomia FONDO ALMA 2016 31160033 (J.G.-L.); the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism’s Millennium Science Initiative through grant IC120009, awarded to The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, MAS (F.E.B., J.B.); the Science and Technology Facilities Council (A.B.H., R.L.C.S.); the Spanish research project AYA 2014-58381-P (C.C.T., A.d.U.P., D.A.K.); the Ramón y Cajal fellowship RyC-2012-09975 (A.d.U.P.); the Ramón y Cajal fellowship RyC-2012-09984 (C.C.T.); the 2016 BBVA Foundation Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators (A.d.U.P.); the Juan de la Cierva Incorporación fellowship IJCI-2015-26153 (D.A.K.); a VILLUM FONDEN Investigator grant (project number 16599; J.H.); the National Science Centre, Poland through the POLONEZ grant 2015/19/P/ST9/ 04010 (M.J.M.); the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 665778 (M.J.M.); the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship (S.R.O.); S.C. acknowledge partial funding from ASI-INAF grant I/004/11/3; R.S.-R. acknowledges support from ASI (Italian Space Agency) through the contract No. 2015-046-R.0 and from European Union Horizon 2020 Programme under the AHEAD project (grant agreement No. 654215).

Funding Information:
Development of the Boxfit code was supported in part by NASA through grant NNX10AF62G issued through the Astrophysics Theory Program and by the NSF through grant AST-1009863. Simulations for BOXFIT version 2 have been carried out in part on the computing facilities of the Computational Center for Particle and Astrophysics (C2PAP) of the research cooperation “Excellence Cluster Universe” in Garching, Germany. Facilities: ALMA, GMRT. Software: AIPS, Boxfit, CASA, MultiNest, PyMultiNest.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Other keywords

gamma-ray burst: individual (GRB 170817A)
gravitational waves

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10.3847/2041-8213/aa970b

Cite this

Kim, S., Schulze, S., Resmi, L., González-López, J., Higgins, A. B., Ishwara-Chandra, C. H., Bauer, F. E., De Gregorio-Monsalvo, I., De Pasquale, M., De Ugarte Postigo, A., Kann, D. A., Martín, S., Oates, S. R., Starling, R. L. C., Tanvir, N. R., Buchner, J., Campana, S., Cano, Z., Covino, S., ... Wiersema, K. (2017). ALMA and GMRT Constraints on the Off-axis Gamma-Ray Burst 170817A from the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 850(2), Article L21. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aa970b

@article{ac63138a70fd4acfb939c2f7ca5063e0,

title = "ALMA and GMRT Constraints on the Off-axis Gamma-Ray Burst 170817A from the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817",

abstract = "Binary neutron-star mergers (BNSMs) are among the most readily detectable gravitational-wave (GW) sources with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). They are also thought to produce short γ-ray bursts (SGRBs) and kilonovae that are powered by r-process nuclei. Detecting these phenomena simultaneously would provide an unprecedented view of the physics during and after the merger of two compact objects. Such a Rosetta Stone event was detected by LIGO/Virgo on 2017 August 17 at a distance of ∼44 Mpc. We monitored the position of the BNSM with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 338.5 GHz and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 1.4 GHz, from 1.4 to 44 days after the merger. Our observations rule out any afterglow more luminous than 3 × 1026 erg s-1 Hz-1 in these bands, probing >2-4 dex fainter than previous SGRB limits. We match these limits, in conjunction with public data announcing the appearance of X-ray and radio emission in the weeks after the GW event, to templates of off-axis afterglows. Our broadband modeling suggests that GW170817 was accompanied by an SGRB and that the γ-ray burst (GRB) jet, powered by EAG,iso ∼ 1050erg, had a half-opening angle of ∼20°, and was misaligned by ∼40° from our line of sight. The data are also consistent with a more collimated jet: EAG,iso ∼ 1051 erg, θ1/2, jet ∼ 5°, θobs ∼ 17°. This is the most conclusive detection of an off-axis GRB afterglow and the first associated with a BNSM-GW event to date. We use the viewing angle estimates to infer the initial bulk Lorentz factor and true energy release of the burst.",

keywords = "gamma-ray burst: individual (GRB 170817A), gravitational waves",

author = "S. Kim and S. Schulze and L. Resmi and J. Gonz{\'a}lez-L{\'o}pez and Higgins, {A. B.} and Ishwara-Chandra, {C. H.} and Bauer, {F. E.} and {De Gregorio-Monsalvo}, I. and {De Pasquale}, M. and {De Ugarte Postigo}, A. and Kann, {D. A.} and S. Mart{\'i}n and Oates, {S. R.} and Starling, {R. L.C.} and Tanvir, {N. R.} and J. Buchner and S. Campana and Z. Cano and S. Covino and Fruchter, {A. S.} and Fynbo, {J. P.U.} and Hartmann, {D. H.} and J. Hjorth and P. Jakobsson and Levan, {A. J.} and D. Malesani and Micha{\l}owski, {M. J.} and B. Milvang-Jensen and K. Misra and O'Brien, {P. T.} and R. S{\'a}nchez-Ram{\'i}rez and Th{\"o}ne, {C. C.} and Watson, {D. J.} and K. Wiersema",

note = "Funding Information: We thank the referee for a careful reading of the manuscript and for helpful comments that improved this paper. We gratefully acknowledge support from: FONDECYT grant 3130488 (SK), FONDECYT grant 3160439 (J.B.), We observed the position of AT2017gfo with ALMA and GMRT at 338.5 and 1.4 GHz, respectively, from 1.4 days to 44 days after the merger, our objective being to constrain the GRB afterglow component. The afterglow evaded detection at all epochs. Our radio and sub-mm observations allow us to place a CONICYT grants Basal-CATA PFB-06/2007 (S.K., F.E.B., J.B.), FONDECYT Regular 1141218 (F.E.B., J.G.-L.), and Programa de Astronomia FONDO ALMA 2016 31160033 (J.G.-L.); the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism{\textquoteright}s Millennium Science Initiative through grant IC120009, awarded to The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, MAS (F.E.B., J.B.); the Science and Technology Facilities Council (A.B.H., R.L.C.S.); the Spanish research project AYA 2014-58381-P (C.C.T., A.d.U.P., D.A.K.); the Ram{\'o}n y Cajal fellowship RyC-2012-09975 (A.d.U.P.); the Ram{\'o}n y Cajal fellowship RyC-2012-09984 (C.C.T.); the 2016 BBVA Foundation Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators (A.d.U.P.); the Juan de la Cierva Incorporaci{\'o}n fellowship IJCI-2015-26153 (D.A.K.); a VILLUM FONDEN Investigator grant (project number 16599; J.H.); the National Science Centre, Poland through the POLONEZ grant 2015/19/P/ST9/ 04010 (M.J.M.); the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk{\l}odowska-Curie grant agreement No. 665778 (M.J.M.); the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship (S.R.O.); S.C. acknowledge partial funding from ASI-INAF grant I/004/11/3; R.S.-R. acknowledges support from ASI (Italian Space Agency) through the contract No. 2015-046-R.0 and from European Union Horizon 2020 Programme under the AHEAD project (grant agreement No. 654215). Funding Information: Development of the Boxfit code was supported in part by NASA through grant NNX10AF62G issued through the Astrophysics Theory Program and by the NSF through grant AST-1009863. Simulations for BOXFIT version 2 have been carried out in part on the computing facilities of the Computational Center for Particle and Astrophysics (C2PAP) of the research cooperation “Excellence Cluster Universe” in Garching, Germany. Facilities: ALMA, GMRT. Software: AIPS, Boxfit, CASA, MultiNest, PyMultiNest. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.",

year = "2017",

month = dec,

day = "1",

doi = "10.3847/2041-8213/aa970b",

language = "English",

volume = "850",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal Letters",

issn = "2041-8205",

publisher = "American Astronomical Society",

number = "2",

}

Kim, S, Schulze, S, Resmi, L, González-López, J, Higgins, AB, Ishwara-Chandra, CH, Bauer, FE, De Gregorio-Monsalvo, I, De Pasquale, M, De Ugarte Postigo, A, Kann, DA, Martín, S, Oates, SR, Starling, RLC, Tanvir, NR, Buchner, J, Campana, S, Cano, Z, Covino, S, Fruchter, AS, Fynbo, JPU, Hartmann, DH, Hjorth, J, Jakobsson, P, Levan, AJ, Malesani, D, Michałowski, MJ, Milvang-Jensen, B, Misra, K, O'Brien, PT, Sánchez-Ramírez, R, Thöne, CC, Watson, DJ & Wiersema, K 2017, 'ALMA and GMRT Constraints on the Off-axis Gamma-Ray Burst 170817A from the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817', Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 850, no. 2, L21. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aa970b

TY - JOUR

T1 - ALMA and GMRT Constraints on the Off-axis Gamma-Ray Burst 170817A from the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817

AU - Kim, S.

AU - Schulze, S.

AU - Resmi, L.

AU - González-López, J.

AU - Higgins, A. B.

AU - Ishwara-Chandra, C. H.

AU - Bauer, F. E.

AU - De Gregorio-Monsalvo, I.

AU - De Pasquale, M.

AU - De Ugarte Postigo, A.

AU - Kann, D. A.

AU - Martín, S.

AU - Oates, S. R.

AU - Starling, R. L.C.

AU - Tanvir, N. R.

AU - Buchner, J.

AU - Campana, S.

AU - Cano, Z.

AU - Covino, S.

AU - Fruchter, A. S.

AU - Fynbo, J. P.U.

AU - Hartmann, D. H.

AU - Hjorth, J.

AU - Jakobsson, P.

AU - Levan, A. J.

AU - Malesani, D.

AU - Michałowski, M. J.

AU - Milvang-Jensen, B.

AU - Misra, K.

AU - O'Brien, P. T.

AU - Sánchez-Ramírez, R.

AU - Thöne, C. C.

AU - Watson, D. J.

AU - Wiersema, K.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank the referee for a careful reading of the manuscript and for helpful comments that improved this paper. We gratefully acknowledge support from: FONDECYT grant 3130488 (SK), FONDECYT grant 3160439 (J.B.), We observed the position of AT2017gfo with ALMA and GMRT at 338.5 and 1.4 GHz, respectively, from 1.4 days to 44 days after the merger, our objective being to constrain the GRB afterglow component. The afterglow evaded detection at all epochs. Our radio and sub-mm observations allow us to place a CONICYT grants Basal-CATA PFB-06/2007 (S.K., F.E.B., J.B.), FONDECYT Regular 1141218 (F.E.B., J.G.-L.), and Programa de Astronomia FONDO ALMA 2016 31160033 (J.G.-L.); the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism’s Millennium Science Initiative through grant IC120009, awarded to The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, MAS (F.E.B., J.B.); the Science and Technology Facilities Council (A.B.H., R.L.C.S.); the Spanish research project AYA 2014-58381-P (C.C.T., A.d.U.P., D.A.K.); the Ramón y Cajal fellowship RyC-2012-09975 (A.d.U.P.); the Ramón y Cajal fellowship RyC-2012-09984 (C.C.T.); the 2016 BBVA Foundation Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators (A.d.U.P.); the Juan de la Cierva Incorporación fellowship IJCI-2015-26153 (D.A.K.); a VILLUM FONDEN Investigator grant (project number 16599; J.H.); the National Science Centre, Poland through the POLONEZ grant 2015/19/P/ST9/ 04010 (M.J.M.); the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 665778 (M.J.M.); the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship (S.R.O.); S.C. acknowledge partial funding from ASI-INAF grant I/004/11/3; R.S.-R. acknowledges support from ASI (Italian Space Agency) through the contract No. 2015-046-R.0 and from European Union Horizon 2020 Programme under the AHEAD project (grant agreement No. 654215). Funding Information: Development of the Boxfit code was supported in part by NASA through grant NNX10AF62G issued through the Astrophysics Theory Program and by the NSF through grant AST-1009863. Simulations for BOXFIT version 2 have been carried out in part on the computing facilities of the Computational Center for Particle and Astrophysics (C2PAP) of the research cooperation “Excellence Cluster Universe” in Garching, Germany. Facilities: ALMA, GMRT. Software: AIPS, Boxfit, CASA, MultiNest, PyMultiNest. Publisher Copyright: © 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

PY - 2017/12/1

Y1 - 2017/12/1

N2 - Binary neutron-star mergers (BNSMs) are among the most readily detectable gravitational-wave (GW) sources with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). They are also thought to produce short γ-ray bursts (SGRBs) and kilonovae that are powered by r-process nuclei. Detecting these phenomena simultaneously would provide an unprecedented view of the physics during and after the merger of two compact objects. Such a Rosetta Stone event was detected by LIGO/Virgo on 2017 August 17 at a distance of ∼44 Mpc. We monitored the position of the BNSM with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 338.5 GHz and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 1.4 GHz, from 1.4 to 44 days after the merger. Our observations rule out any afterglow more luminous than 3 × 1026 erg s-1 Hz-1 in these bands, probing >2-4 dex fainter than previous SGRB limits. We match these limits, in conjunction with public data announcing the appearance of X-ray and radio emission in the weeks after the GW event, to templates of off-axis afterglows. Our broadband modeling suggests that GW170817 was accompanied by an SGRB and that the γ-ray burst (GRB) jet, powered by EAG,iso ∼ 1050erg, had a half-opening angle of ∼20°, and was misaligned by ∼40° from our line of sight. The data are also consistent with a more collimated jet: EAG,iso ∼ 1051 erg, θ1/2, jet ∼ 5°, θobs ∼ 17°. This is the most conclusive detection of an off-axis GRB afterglow and the first associated with a BNSM-GW event to date. We use the viewing angle estimates to infer the initial bulk Lorentz factor and true energy release of the burst.

AB - Binary neutron-star mergers (BNSMs) are among the most readily detectable gravitational-wave (GW) sources with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). They are also thought to produce short γ-ray bursts (SGRBs) and kilonovae that are powered by r-process nuclei. Detecting these phenomena simultaneously would provide an unprecedented view of the physics during and after the merger of two compact objects. Such a Rosetta Stone event was detected by LIGO/Virgo on 2017 August 17 at a distance of ∼44 Mpc. We monitored the position of the BNSM with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 338.5 GHz and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 1.4 GHz, from 1.4 to 44 days after the merger. Our observations rule out any afterglow more luminous than 3 × 1026 erg s-1 Hz-1 in these bands, probing >2-4 dex fainter than previous SGRB limits. We match these limits, in conjunction with public data announcing the appearance of X-ray and radio emission in the weeks after the GW event, to templates of off-axis afterglows. Our broadband modeling suggests that GW170817 was accompanied by an SGRB and that the γ-ray burst (GRB) jet, powered by EAG,iso ∼ 1050erg, had a half-opening angle of ∼20°, and was misaligned by ∼40° from our line of sight. The data are also consistent with a more collimated jet: EAG,iso ∼ 1051 erg, θ1/2, jet ∼ 5°, θobs ∼ 17°. This is the most conclusive detection of an off-axis GRB afterglow and the first associated with a BNSM-GW event to date. We use the viewing angle estimates to infer the initial bulk Lorentz factor and true energy release of the burst.

KW - gamma-ray burst: individual (GRB 170817A)

KW - gravitational waves

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85037693854&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3847/2041-8213/aa970b

DO - 10.3847/2041-8213/aa970b

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85037693854

SN - 2041-8205

VL - 850

JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters

JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters

IS - 2

M1 - L21

ER -

ALMA and GMRT Constraints on the Off-axis Gamma-Ray Burst 170817A from the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Other keywords

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