Black hole pulsars and monster shocks as outcomes of black hole--neutron star mergers

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Main Authors: Kim, Yoonsoo, Most, Elias R., Beloborodov, Andrei M., Ripperda, Bart
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Kim, Yoonsoo
Most, Elias R.
Beloborodov, Andrei M.
Ripperda, Bart
author_facet Kim, Yoonsoo
Most, Elias R.
Beloborodov, Andrei M.
Ripperda, Bart
contents The merger of a black hole (BH) and a neutron star (NS) in most cases is expected to leave no material around the remnant BH; therefore, such events are often considered as sources of gravitational waves without electromagnetic counterparts. However, a bright counterpart can emerge if the NS is strongly magnetized, as its external magnetosphere can experience radiative shocks and magnetic reconnection during/after the merger. We use magnetohydrodynamic simulations in the dynamical spacetime of a merging BH--NS binary to investigate its magnetospheric dynamics. We find that compressive waves excited in the magnetosphere develop into monster shocks as they propagate outward. After swallowing the NS, the BH acquires a magnetosphere that quickly evolves into a split monopole configuration and then undergoes an exponential decay (balding), enabled by magnetic reconnection and also assisted by the ring-down of the remnant BH. This spinning BH drags the split monopole into rotation, forming a transient pulsar-like state. It emits a striped wind if the swallowed magnetic dipole moment is inclined to the spin axis. We predict two types of transients from this scenario: (1) a fast radio burst emitted by the shocks as they expand to large radii and (2) an X/$γ$-ray burst emitted by the $e^\pm$ outflow heated by magnetic dissipation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_05760
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Black hole pulsars and monster shocks as outcomes of black hole--neutron star mergers
Kim, Yoonsoo
Most, Elias R.
Beloborodov, Andrei M.
Ripperda, Bart
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
The merger of a black hole (BH) and a neutron star (NS) in most cases is expected to leave no material around the remnant BH; therefore, such events are often considered as sources of gravitational waves without electromagnetic counterparts. However, a bright counterpart can emerge if the NS is strongly magnetized, as its external magnetosphere can experience radiative shocks and magnetic reconnection during/after the merger. We use magnetohydrodynamic simulations in the dynamical spacetime of a merging BH--NS binary to investigate its magnetospheric dynamics. We find that compressive waves excited in the magnetosphere develop into monster shocks as they propagate outward. After swallowing the NS, the BH acquires a magnetosphere that quickly evolves into a split monopole configuration and then undergoes an exponential decay (balding), enabled by magnetic reconnection and also assisted by the ring-down of the remnant BH. This spinning BH drags the split monopole into rotation, forming a transient pulsar-like state. It emits a striped wind if the swallowed magnetic dipole moment is inclined to the spin axis. We predict two types of transients from this scenario: (1) a fast radio burst emitted by the shocks as they expand to large radii and (2) an X/$γ$-ray burst emitted by the $e^\pm$ outflow heated by magnetic dissipation.
title Black hole pulsars and monster shocks as outcomes of black hole--neutron star mergers
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.05760