Cannonball model diagnosis of the short gamma ray burst 170817A

TL;DR

This paper applies the cannonball model to analyze multi-wavelength data of the short gamma-ray burst 170817A, explaining its emission mechanisms and afterglow evolution in the context of neutron star merger events.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed cannonball model interpretation for SHB170817A, linking observed emissions to jet dynamics and the neutron star remnant, providing a comprehensive explanation of the afterglow phenomena.

Findings

Inverse Compton scattering explains initial gamma-ray emission.

Late-time afterglow is due to synchrotron radiation from decelerating jets.

Radio observations should show superluminal motion if the jet model is correct.

Abstract

The rich and complex data obtained from multi-wavelength observations of SHB170817A, the short hard gamma ray burst (SHB) associated with GW170817 --the first neutron stars merger event detected in gravitational waves (GWs)-- are analyzed in the framework of the cannonball model of SHBs. In this model a highly relativistic jet is launched by fall back matter on the nascent neutron star (or black hole) into a surrounding glory (light from the surrounding wind nebula of the binary neutron stars) which was present already before the merger. The SHB was produced by inverse Compton scattering of glory photons by the jet, which was viewed far off-axis. The fading glory, which produced the initial UVOIR afterglow, was powered by a neutron star remnant. It was overtaken by a late time X-ray, UVOIR and radio afterglow produced by synchrotron radiation from the decelerating jet in the interstellar medium of the host galaxy. If the radio afterglow of SHB170817A was indeed produced by the jet, it should display a superluminal motion relative to the SHB location, still detectable in VLA and VLBI radio observations.