EM counterparts of structured jets from 3D GRMHD simulations
Abstract
GW170817/GRB170817A has offered unprecedented insight into binary neutron star post-merger systems. Its Prompt and afterglow emission imply the presence of a tightly collimated relativistic jet with a smooth transverse structure. However, it remains unclear whether and how the central engine can produce such structured jets. Here, we utilize 3D general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations starting with a black hole surrounded by a magnetized torus with properties typically expected of a post-merger system. We follow the jet, as it is self-consistently launched, from the scale of the compact object out to more than three orders of magnitude in distance. We find that this naturally results in a structured jet, which is collimated by the disc wind into a half-opening angle of roughly 10°; its emission can explain features of both the prompt and afterglow emission of GRB170817A for a 30° observing angle. Our work is the first to compute the afterglow, in the context of a binary merger, from a relativistic magnetized jet self-consistently generated by an accreting black hole, with the jet's transverse structure determined by the accretion physics and not prescribed at any point.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- March 2019
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnrasl/slz012
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1809.05099
- Bibcode:
- 2019MNRAS.484L..98K
- Keywords:
-
- MHD;
- radiation mechanisms: non-thermal;
- methods: numerical;
- gamma-ray burst: individual:170817A;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to MNRAS