Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2018
Volume 63, Number 4
Saturday–Tuesday, April 14–17, 2018; Columbus, Ohio
Session D16: Optical Counterparts to Gravitational-Wave Events |
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Sponsoring Units: DAP DGRAV Chair: Judith Racusin, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Room: B232-233 |
Saturday, April 14, 2018 3:30PM - 4:06PM |
D16.00001: Invited Review: Status & Current Understanding of Optical counterparts to GW events Invited Speaker: Daniel Kasen The detection of the gravitational wave (GW) source GW170817 and its associated electromagnetic (EM) signals has illuminated the physics of merging neutron stars and addressed long standing questions as to the origin of the heaviest elements. I will review our physical understanding of mergers and the origin of EM emission, describing how observations of a radioactively powered optical/infrared counterpart (a "kilonova") allow us to probe the physical properties of the merger and its remnant and decode the signatures of heavy elements at their production site. I'll highlight the successes and limitations of kilonova modeling, and anticipate what we may see and learn in a hopeful future of numerous, diverse joint GW+EM detections. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 14, 2018 4:06PM - 4:18PM |
D16.00002: Discovery of the First Electromagnetic Counterpart to a Gravitational Wave Source David Coulter, Ryan Foley, Charles Kilpatrick, Maria Drout, Anthony Piro, Ben Shappee, Matthew Siebert, Josh Simon, Daniel Kasen, Barry Madore, Ariadna Murguia-Berthier, Yen-Chen Pan, Jason Prochaska, Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, Armin Rest, Cesar Rojas-Bravo I will present observations of GW170817/SSS17a from the One-Meter, Two-Hemispheres (1M2H) collaboration. Our team, using the Swope Telescope, discovered the optical counterpart, Swope Supernova Survey 2017a (SSS17a). I will describe that discovery as well as observations of SSS17a and its host galaxy made over the following several weeks. From the electromagnetic data alone, we can independently and definitively say that GW170817 came from the merger of a binary neutron star system, that its luminosity is consistent with being powered by the decay of radioactive r-process material, and that it likely originates from an older stellar population. I will discuss future observational plans for O3 starting later in 2018. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 14, 2018 4:18PM - 4:30PM |
D16.00003: Search for very-high-energy gamma-ray counterparts of gravitational waves with HAWC Israel Martinez-Castellanos Recently the observation of gravitational waves consistent with a binary neutron star (BNS) coalescence was announced by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration, with spatial and temporal coincidence with a gamma-ray burst (GRB) detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor. This was a milestone in multi-messenger astronomy, and provided strong evidence in favor of BNS mergers being progenitors of short gamma-ray bursts. The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC) is a large field of view ($\sim$2sr) continuously operating observatory sensitive to very-high energy (VHE) gamma rays ($\sim$0.1-100TeV). These characteristics make it well suited for observing or constraining the VHE emission of this kind of rapid transients. Furthermore, the BNS horizon of LIGO-Virgo means that the attenuation on a possible VHE emission would be minimal, improving the sensitivity of HAWC significantly with respect to the average GRB. We report on our follow-up observations during the LIGO-Virgo runs O1 and O2, and describe the analysis developed in preparation for O3. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 14, 2018 4:30PM - 4:42PM |
D16.00004: SkyNet: An open-source reaction network for r-process nucleosynthesis Jonas Lippuner, Luke Roberts SkyNet is a general-purpose, open-source nuclear reaction network that is being used for r-process nucleosynthesis calculations in various astrophysical scenarios such as neutron star mergers, accretion disk outflows, and magnetorotationally driven jets in core-collapse supernovae. Thanks to a Python interface, SkyNet is easy to use and flexible. SkyNet features an equation of state accounting for all nuclear species, self-heating capability, a general electron screening implementation, and the ability to dynamically switch between the full network evolution and evolving nuclear statistical equilibrium (NSE). In this talk, we present an overview of the capabilities of SkyNet, some code tests and comparisons to other reaction networks, and some example r-process calculations that were performed with SkyNet. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 14, 2018 4:42PM - 4:54PM |
D16.00005: ISS-TAO: A Transient Astrophysics Observer with a Focus on X-rays Peter Shawhan X-rays offer a valuable view of energetic astrophysical events, including neutron star binary mergers which produce both short gamma-ray bursts and gravitational-wave signals. ISS-TAO is a proposed NASA mission of opportunity, currently in a Phase A study, for deployment on the International Space Station around 2022. ISS-TAO's primary instrument is a wide-field imager (WFI) for soft X-rays. By using microchannel (``lobster eye'') optics to focus X-rays onto CCDs, the WFI is able to achieve very good sensitivity and point source resolution over a field of view of hundreds of square degrees. A gamma-ray transient monitor (GTM) provides all-sky triggering and timing for gamma-ray bursts and other energetic transients. A multi-axis pointing system and on-board algorithms enable triggered observations, either autonomous or initiated from the ground, with staring and survey modes. These capabilities make ISS-TAO an exceptionally powerful tool for finding and studying the X-ray afterglows of short gamma-ray bursts---including counterparts of gravitational-wave events, targeting sky maps uploaded from the ground---as well as tidal disruption flares, supernova shock break-outs, and modulation of X-ray flux from active galactic nuclei. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 14, 2018 4:54PM - 5:06PM |
D16.00006: QUASI-PERIODIC BEHAVIOR OF MINI-DISKS IN BINARY BLACK HOLES APPROACHING MERGER Manuela Campanelli, Dennis Bowen, Vassilios Mewes, Scott Noble, Julian Krolik, Miguel Zilhao We present the first GRMHD simulation in which a circumbinary disk around a relativistic binary black hole feeds mass to individual mini-disks around each black hole. Mass flow through the accretion streams linking the circumbinary disk to the mini-disks is modulated quasi-periodically by the streams' interaction with a nonlinear azimuthal m=1 density feature, or "lump", at the inner edge of the circumbinary disk: the stream supplying each mini-disk comes into phase with the lump at a frequency 0.74 times the binary orbital frequency. Because the binary is relativistic, the tidal truncation radii of the mini-disks are not much larger than their ISCOs; consequently, the mini-disks' inflow times are shorter than the conventional estimate and are comparable to the stream modulation period. As a result, the mini-disks are never in inflow equilibrium, with their masses and spiral density wave structures responding to the stream's quasi-periodic modulation. The fluctuations in each mini-disk's mass are so large that as much as 75% of the total mini-disk mass can be contained within a single mini-disk. Such quasi-periodic modulation of the mini-disk structure may introduce distinctive time-dependent features in the binary's electromagnetic emission. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 14, 2018 5:06PM - 5:18PM |
D16.00007: Light from Inspiraling Binary Black Holes with Magnetized Mini-disks Scott Noble, Stephane d'Ascoli, Manuela Campanelli, Dennis Bowen, Julian Krolik, Vassilios Mewes Accretion disks around supermassive binary black holes offer a rare opportunity to probe the strong-field limit of dynamical gravity by using the ambient matter as a lighthouse. Accurate simulations of these systems using a variety of configurations will be critical to interpreting future observations of them. We have performed the first 3-d general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics simulations of mini-disks about a pair of equal mass black holes in the inspiral regime of their orbit. In this talk, we will present results from general relativistic post-process radiative transfer calculations of this simulation. The goal of our work is to explore whether these systems provide a unique means to identify and characterize them with electromagnetic observations. We make use of the simulation's radiative cooling data so that the resultant electromagnetic emission is self-consistent with the simulation's thermodynamics. We will describe the found electromagnetic signatures, including spectra and images of the entire simulation domain while making note of the contributions from the different dynamical components of the accretion flow, such as the mini-disks. We will conclude by providing a context for our results and list our future avenues of exploration. [Preview Abstract] |
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