Possible High-Energy Neutrino and Photon Signals from Gravitational Wave Bursts due to Double Neutron Star Mergers

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential for double neutron star mergers to produce high-energy neutrinos and photons via magnetar wind interactions, contributing to the understanding of multi-messenger signals in astrophysics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model predicting high-energy neutrino and photon emissions from NS-NS mergers involving magnetar remnants, estimating their energies and fluxes.

Findings

PeV neutrinos could be emitted if ejecta reach relativistic speeds.

Diffuse neutrino flux from these events is too low to explain IceCube's two detections.

These mergers may moderately contribute to the sub-TeV gamma-ray background.

Abstract

As the technology of gravitational-wave and neutrino detectors becomes increasingly mature, a multi-messenger era of astronomy is ushered in. Advanced gravitational wave detectors are close to making a ground-breaking discovery of gravitational wave bursts (GWBs) associated with mergers of double neutron stars (NS-NS). It is essential to study the possible electromagnetic (EM) and neutrino emission counterparts of these GWBs. Recent observations and numerical simulations suggest that at least a fraction of NS-NS mergers may leave behind a massive millisecond magnetar as the merger product. Here we show that protons accelerated in the forward shock powered by a magnetar wind pushing the ejecta launched during the merger process would interact with photons generated in the dissipating magnetar wind and emit high energy neutrinos and photons. We estimate the typical energy and fluence of the neutrinos from such a scenario. We find that $\sim$PeV neutrinos could be emitted from the shock front as long as the ejecta could be accelerated to a relativistic speed. The diffuse neutrino flux from these events, even under the most optimistic scenarios, is too low to account for the two events announced by the IceCube Collaboration, but it is only slightly lower than the diffuse flux of GRBs, making it an important candidate for the diffuse background of $\sim$PeV neutrinos. The neutron-pion decay of these events make them a moderate contributor to the sub-TeV gamma-ray diffuse background.