Seminar

Exciting Insights on NS Merger Counterpart Diversity from Observations of GRBs

October 17, 2022

Jillian Rastinejad

With only one joint GW-EM detection to date, it is imperative to harness the full extent of existing NS merger observations to predict the behavior of future EM counterparts to GW events. In this talk, I will discuss the key insights revealed by our past observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). First, I will present our comprehensive catalog of optical-near-IR observations of 85 short GRBs which reveals the diversity of kilonovae uniformly observed at a pole-on angle. Against this backdrop, I will present our surprising discovery of a kilonova following a long GRB (duration ~ 50s) at 350 Mpc. Leveraging a premiere suite of multi-wavelength observatories, including Gemini Observatory, the MMT, the Very Large Array and the Hubble Space Telescope, we obtained detailed observations of this GRB's afterglow, kilonova and host galaxy. I will also discuss GRB 211211A's unique high-energy properties and compare our derived kilonova properties to those of GW170817 and past GRBs. Finally, I will review the exciting implications of this event for the fourth GW observing run.

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