A kilonova (also called a macronova) is a transient astronomical event that occurs in a compact binary system when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole merge. These mergers are thought to produce gamma-ray bursts and emit bright electromagnetic radiation, called "kilonovae", due to the radioactive decay of heavy r-process nuclei that are produced and ejected fairly isotropically during the merger process.
The measured high sphericity of the kilonova AT2017gfo at early epochs was deduced from the blackbody nature of its spectrum.
The existence of thermal transient events from neutron star mergers was first introduced by Li & Paczyński in 1998. The radioactive glow arising from the merger ejecta was originally called mini-supernova, as it is to the brightness of a typical supernova, the self-detonation of a massive star. The term kilonova was later introduced by Metzger et al. in 2010 to characterize the peak brightness, which they showed reaches 1000 times that of a classical nova.
The first candidate kilonova to be found was detected as a short gamma-ray burst, GRB 130603B, by instruments on board the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer and KONUS/WIND spacecraft and then observed using the Hubble Space Telescope 9 and 30 days after burst.
On October 16, 2017, the LIGO and Virgo collaborations announced the first simultaneous detections of gravitational waves (GW170817) and electromagnetic radiation (GRB 170817A and AT 2017gfo) and demonstrated that the source was a binary neutron star merger. This merger was followed by a short GRB (GRB 170817A) and a longer lasting transient visible for weeks in the optical and near-infrared electromagnetic spectrum (AT 2017gfo) located in a relatively nearby galaxy, NGC 4993. Observations of AT 2017gfo confirmed that it was the first secure case of a kilonova. Spectral modelling of AT2017gfo identified the r-process element Strontium which conclusively ties the formation of heavy elements to neutron-star mergers. Further modelling showed the ejected fireball of heavy elements was highly spherical in early epochs.
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Introduction to time-variable astrophysical objects and processes, from Space Weather to stars, black holes, and galaxies. Introduction to time-series analysis, instrumentation targeting variability,
A stellar collision is the coming together of two stars caused by stellar dynamics within a star cluster, or by the orbital decay of a binary star due to stellar mass loss or gravitational radiation, or by other mechanisms not yet well understood. Astronomers predict that events of this type occur in the globular clusters of our galaxy about once every 10,000 years. On 2 September 2008 scientists first observed a stellar merger in Scorpius (named V1309 Scorpii), though it was not known to be the result of a stellar merger at the time.
A neutron star merger is a type of stellar collision. When two neutron stars orbit each other closely, they gradually spiral inward due to gravitational radiation. When the two neutron stars meet, their merger leads to the formation of either a more massive neutron star, or a black hole (depending on whether the mass of the remnant exceeds the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit). The merger can also create a magnetic field that is trillions of times stronger than that of Earth in a matter of one or two milliseconds.
Orbital decay is a gradual decrease of the distance between two orbiting bodies at their closest approach (the periapsis) over many orbital periods. These orbiting bodies can be a planet and its satellite, a star and any object orbiting it, or components of any binary system. If left unchecked, the decay eventually results in termination of the orbit when the smaller object strikes the surface of the primary; or for objects where the primary has an atmosphere, the smaller object burns, explodes, or otherwise breaks up in the larger object's atmosphere; or for objects where the primary is a star, ends with incineration by the star's radiation (such as for comets).
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