Affiliation:
1. Astronomy Department and Theoretical Astrophysics Center, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
2. Racah Institute of Physics, Edmund J. Safra Campus, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Fast ejecta expelled in binary neutron star (NS) mergers or energetic supernovae (SNe) should produce late-time synchrotron radio emission as the ejecta shocks into the surrounding ambient medium. Models for such radio flares typically assume the ejecta expands into an unperturbed interstellar medium (ISM). However, it is also well known that binary NS mergers and broad-lined Ic SNe Ic can harbour relativistic jetted outflows. In this work, we show that such jets shock the ambient ISM ahead of the ejecta, thus evacuating the medium into which the ejecta subsequently collides. Using an idealized spherically symmetric model, we illustrate that this inhibits the ejecta radio flare at early times $t \lt t_{\rm col} \approx 12 \, {\rm yr} \, (E_{\rm j}/10^{49} \, {\rm erg})^{1/3} (n/1 \, {\rm cm}^{-3})^{-1/3} (\upsilon _{\rm ej}/0.1c)^{-5/3}$, where Ej is the jet energy, n the ISM density, and $\upsilon$ej the ejecta velocity. We also show that this can produce a sharply peaked enhancement in the light curve at t = tcol. This has implications for radio observations of GW170817 and future binary NS mergers, gamma-ray burst (GRB) SNe, decade-long radio transients such as FIRST J1419, and possibly other events where a relativistic outflow precedes a slower moving ejecta. Future numerical work will extend these analytic estimates and treat the multidimensional nature of the problem.
Funder
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
NASA
Space Telescope Science Institute
ERC
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Space and Planetary Science,Astronomy and Astrophysics
Cited by
30 articles.
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