EM counterparts of structured jets from 3D GRMHD simulations

Adithan Kathirgamaraju*, Alexander Tchekhovskoy, Dimitrios Giannios, Rodolfo Barniol Duran

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

67 Scopus citations

Abstract

GW170817/GRB170817A has offered unprecedented insight into binary neutron star post merger systems. Its Prompt and afterglow emission imply the presence of a tightly collimated relativistic jet with a smooth transverse structure. However, it remains unclear whether and how the central engine can produce such structured jets. Here, we utilize 3D general relativistic magneto hydrodynamic simulations starting with a black hole surrounded by a magnetized torus with properties typically expected of a post-merger system. We follow the jet, as it is self-consistently launched, from the scale of the compact object out to more than three orders of magnitude in distance. We find that this naturally results in a structured jet, which is collimated by the disc wind into a half-opening angle of roughly 10°; its emission can explain features of both the prompt and afterglow emission of GRB170817A for a 30° observing angle. Our work is the first to compute the afterglow, in the context of a binary merger, from a relativistic magnetized jet self-consistently generated by an accreting black hole, with the jet's transverse structure determined by the accretion physics and not prescribed at any point.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)L98-L103
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Volume484
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 21 2019

Funding

We thank the anonymous referee and Brian Metzger for providing helpful feedback. This material is supported by the NSF under Grants 1816694, 1815304, and 1816136. AK and DG acknowledge support from NASA grants NNX16AB32G and NNX17AG21G. AT acknowledges support from Northwestern University. RBD acknowledges support from the Chein Hu Endowment at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Sacramento State. This research used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Computations were performed at Edison (repositories m1186, m2058, m2401, and the scavenger queue).

Keywords

  • MHD
  • gamma-ray burst: individual:170817A
  • methods: numerical
  • radiation mechanisms: non-thermal

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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