Sep 8 – 13, 2013
Asilomar, California
US/Pacific timezone

Delayed Outflows from Accretion Disks formed in Neutron Star Binary Mergers

Sep 12, 2013, 2:40 PM
20m
Asilomar, California

Asilomar, California

Asilomar Conference Grounds, 800 Asilomar Avenue, Pacific Grove, CA 93950-3704

Speaker

Rodrigo Fernandez (UC Berkeley)

Description

Detecting the electromagnetic counterpart of a neutron star binary merger increases the amount of information that can be extracted from the gravitational wave signal. Material ejected dynamically during the first ~10 milliseconds after the merger is a known source for this electromagnetic emission. A separate channel for mass ejection arises from the viscous evolution of the remnant accretion disk, on a timescale of a few seconds after the merger. Here I'll present results of two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of this long-term disk evaporation. The combined action of viscous heating and nuclear recombination result in the ejection of ~10% of the disk mass in a quasi-spherical outflow, with thermodynamic properties such that the production of heavy r-processes elements (A>130) is expected. Given this composition, this material should produce an electromagnetic transient that peaks in the near infrared wavelength range, evolving on a timescale of ~1 week, similar to the expected emission from the dynamical ejecta.

Primary author

Rodrigo Fernandez (UC Berkeley)

Co-author

Brian Metzger (Columbia University)

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