No Sign of a Magnetar Remnant Following the Kilonova-Producing Long GRB 211211A $\sim 1.7~$Years Later

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Schroeder, Genevieve, Margalit, Ben, Metzger, Brian D., Fong, Wen-fai, Gompertz, Benjamin P., Alexander, Kate D., Berger, Edo, Laskar, Tanmoy, Lamb, Gavin P., Levan, Andrew, Kilpatrick, Charles D., Rastinejad, Jillian C.
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866908748099878912
author Schroeder, Genevieve
Margalit, Ben
Metzger, Brian D.
Fong, Wen-fai
Gompertz, Benjamin P.
Alexander, Kate D.
Berger, Edo
Laskar, Tanmoy
Lamb, Gavin P.
Levan, Andrew
Kilpatrick, Charles D.
Rastinejad, Jillian C.
author_facet Schroeder, Genevieve
Margalit, Ben
Metzger, Brian D.
Fong, Wen-fai
Gompertz, Benjamin P.
Alexander, Kate D.
Berger, Edo
Laskar, Tanmoy
Lamb, Gavin P.
Levan, Andrew
Kilpatrick, Charles D.
Rastinejad, Jillian C.
contents In addition to a $γ$-ray burst (GRB), the merger of two neutron stars may produce a temporarily or indefinitely stable neutron star remnant with a strong magnetic field (a "magnetar"). As this magnetar remnant spins down, it can deposit its rotational energy into the surrounding kilonova ejecta, producing synchrotron emission that peaks in the radio bands $\sim$months-years after the merger ("boosted kilonova"). The nearby ($z=0.0763$) long-duration GRB 211211A, which has an apparent kilonova counterpart and likely neutron star merger progenitor, may have produced such a remnant. We observed the location of GRB 211211A at 6 GHz with the NSF's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) spanning $\approx 0.54$-$1.7~$years after the burst. We do not detect any radio emission, placing strong limits on the energy deposited into the ejecta by any remnant to $\lesssim 4.4 \times 10^{52}~{\rm erg}$. Due to the proximity of the event, we are also able to place limits on a kilonova afterglow that did not receive any additional energy deposition, though it is possible such emission will be suppressed until $\sim 4~{\rm years}$ after the burst, when the kilonova is expected to overtake the forward shock of the GRB. Future observations with the VLA and next-generation radio facilities will be able to further constrain the magnetar-boosted kilonova and kilonova afterglow scenarios, as well as directly constrain models in the scenario that GRB 211211A was instead produced by a collapsar.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_09744
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle No Sign of a Magnetar Remnant Following the Kilonova-Producing Long GRB 211211A $\sim 1.7~$Years Later
Schroeder, Genevieve
Margalit, Ben
Metzger, Brian D.
Fong, Wen-fai
Gompertz, Benjamin P.
Alexander, Kate D.
Berger, Edo
Laskar, Tanmoy
Lamb, Gavin P.
Levan, Andrew
Kilpatrick, Charles D.
Rastinejad, Jillian C.
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
In addition to a $γ$-ray burst (GRB), the merger of two neutron stars may produce a temporarily or indefinitely stable neutron star remnant with a strong magnetic field (a "magnetar"). As this magnetar remnant spins down, it can deposit its rotational energy into the surrounding kilonova ejecta, producing synchrotron emission that peaks in the radio bands $\sim$months-years after the merger ("boosted kilonova"). The nearby ($z=0.0763$) long-duration GRB 211211A, which has an apparent kilonova counterpart and likely neutron star merger progenitor, may have produced such a remnant. We observed the location of GRB 211211A at 6 GHz with the NSF's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) spanning $\approx 0.54$-$1.7~$years after the burst. We do not detect any radio emission, placing strong limits on the energy deposited into the ejecta by any remnant to $\lesssim 4.4 \times 10^{52}~{\rm erg}$. Due to the proximity of the event, we are also able to place limits on a kilonova afterglow that did not receive any additional energy deposition, though it is possible such emission will be suppressed until $\sim 4~{\rm years}$ after the burst, when the kilonova is expected to overtake the forward shock of the GRB. Future observations with the VLA and next-generation radio facilities will be able to further constrain the magnetar-boosted kilonova and kilonova afterglow scenarios, as well as directly constrain models in the scenario that GRB 211211A was instead produced by a collapsar.
title No Sign of a Magnetar Remnant Following the Kilonova-Producing Long GRB 211211A $\sim 1.7~$Years Later
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09744