Astrophysical Transients in Time Domain and Multi-Messenger Astronomy: a review

TL;DR

This review discusses the role of X-ray, gamma-ray, and gravitational wave observations in studying energetic astrophysical transients like GRBs, black hole mergers, and neutron star collisions, highlighting recent discoveries and their implications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of multi-messenger astronomy, emphasizing the importance of high-energy observations and gravitational waves in understanding compact object mergers and transients.

Findings

X-ray and gamma-ray variability patterns reveal properties of binary mergers.

Gravitational waves enable the study of non-light-emitting black holes.

Electromagnetic emission is significant in neutron star mergers, aiding their analysis.

Abstract

The wide fields of view, high sensitivity, and broad energy coverage of current X-ray and gamma-ray satellites, coupled with the high cadence observational strategy of some of them (recently Swift and Fermi) have been ideal for carrying out unprecedented studies of the variability properties of different classes of Galactic and extra-Galactic high-energy sources. These classes of objects range from nearby flaring stars to the most distant Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). In this paper we focus on some of the most energetic events, i.e. those powered by accretion (black hole binaries, ultra-luminous X-rays and Active Galactic Nuclei) until those leading to the first detections of GravitationalWaves (GWs), i.e. the Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs), passing through the controversial Inter-Mediate Mass Black-Holes (IMBHs). We show the importance of X-ray and gamma-ray emission for the determination of the properties (mass, spin, inclination, height of the corona) of the compact objects residing in systems powered by accretion and the role of the LIGO and VIRGO interferometers in the case of the (compact objects) binary mergers. Gravitational waves allow the determination of the properties of the non-light-emitting compact objects (black-holes; BHs) in binary mergers (BH-BH) that otherwise would be nearly impossible. We show that for the case of neutron star (NS) mergers (NS-BH or NS-NS) electro-magnetic (EM) emission is still possible, and very powerful, being the responsible for the X-ray and gamma-ray emission of many GRBs (kilonovae). Very recently these transients have been discovered to show X-ray and gamma-ray variability patterns that could lead to very important insights into the properties of the binary mergers that originated them, opening a new view for their study.