The astrophysics of compact object mergers with gravitational wave and electromagnetic emission

On August 17th 2017, the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors discovered the first binary neutron star merger GW170817. The FERMI gamma-ray monitor independently detected  a gamma-ray burst within 2 seconds with respect to the merger. Instigated by the event’s gravitational wave localization volume, telescopes across all wavebands in the electromagnetic spectrum observed the ensuing event’s post-merger emission.

In this talk, I will first describe the gravitational wave observations of this binary neutron star and then discuss how to place compact object mergers in their full astrophysical context with joint gravitational wave and electromagnetic observations. I will highlight the challenges we face in explaining the rich physics driving the merger in high velocity, strongly-curved spacetimes in Universe. I will conclude with the unprecedented opportunities that are opening up in strong-field dynamic gravity astrophysics thanks to multi-messenger astrophysics during the coming years.