Kilonova and Optical Afterglow from Binary Neutron Star Mergers. I. Luminosity Function and Color Evolution

Abstract

Abstract In the first work of this series, we adopt a GW170817-like viewing-angle-dependent kilonova model and the standard afterglow model with a light-curve distribution based on the properties of cosmological short gamma-ray burst afterglows to simulate the luminosity functions and color evolution of both kilonovae and optical afterglow emissions from binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. We find that ∼10% of the nearly-on-axis afterglows are brighter than the associated kilonovae at the peak time. These kilonovae would be significantly polluted by the associated afterglow emission. Only at large viewing angles with sin θ v ≳ 0.20 , the electromagnetic signals of most BNS mergers would be kilonova-dominated and some off-axis afterglows may emerge at ∼5–10 days after the mergers. At a brightness dimmer than ∼23–24 mag, according to their luminosity functions, the number of afterglows is much larger than that of kilonovae. Because the search depth of the present survey projects is <22 mag, the number of afterglow events that are detected via serendipitous observations would be much higher than that of kilonova events, consistent with the current observations. For the foreseeable survey projects (e.g., Mephisto, WFST, and LSST), whose search depths can reach ≳23–24 mag, the detection rate of kilonovae could have the same order of magnitude as afterglows. We also find that it may be difficult to use the fading rate in a single band to directly identify kilonovae and afterglows among various fast-evolving transients by serendipitous surveys. However, the color evolution between the optical and infrared bands can identify them because the color evolution patterns of these phenomena are unique compared with those of other fast-evolving transients.