The birth of black holes: neutron star collapse times, gamma-ray bursts and fast radio bursts

By V. Ravi, P. Lasky. 2014

137 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Recent observations of short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) suggest that binary neutron star (NS) mergers can create highly magnetised, millisecond NSs. Sharp cut-offs in X-ray afterglow plateaus of some SGRBs hint at the gravitational collapse of these remnant NSs to black holes. The collapse of such `supramassive' NSs also describes the blitzar model, a leading candidate for the progenitors of fast radio bursts (FRBs). The observation of an FRB associated with an SGRB would provide compelling evidence for the blitzar model and the binary NS merger scenario of SGRBs, and lead to interesting constraints on the NS equation of state. We predict the collapse times of supramassive NSs created in binary NS mergers, finding that such stars collapse $\sim10\,{\rm s}$ -- $4.4\times10^{4}\,{\rm s}$ (95% confidence) after the merger. This directly impacts observations targeting NS remnants of binary NS mergers, providing the optimal window for high time resolution radio and X-ray follow-up of SGRBs and gravitational wave bursts.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a15a7972c7765a75255ff843e73a85f86a319c5f

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. B. Metzger
2. Ilya Mandel
3. Bing Zhang
4. D. Holz
5. E. Berger
6. Maya Fishbach
7. Michela Mapelli
8. B. Margalit

Citations in the corpus

• THE MILLISECOND MAGNETAR CENTRAL ENGINE IN SHORT GRBs (2015, methodology): “Constrain the neutron star EoS The inferred collapsing time can be used to constrain neutron star equation of state (Lasky et al. 2014; Ravi & Lasky 2014).”
• Rates of compact object coalescences (2021, background): “Compact-object mergers or the subsequent evolution of compact-object merger products have been proposed as a source for some fast radio bursts (Totani, 2013; Ravi and Lasky, 2014); however, there are likely multiple progenitor channels for fast radio bursts (Pleunis et al.”
• Fast Radio Bursts from Magnetars Born in Binary Neutron Star Mergers and Accretion Induced Collapse (2019, background): “Meta-stable (hyper-massive or supra-massive) NS remnants will generally collapse to a black hole much earlier (e.g., Shibata & Taniguchi 2006; Ravi & Lasky 2014), unless the dipole magnetic field of the remnant is extremely weak, 1013 G, to prevent spin-down, despite the much larger fields…”
• A living theory catalogue for fast radio bursts (2018, result): “ed any stringent constraints on the magnetar model (Xi et al., 2017; Zhang and Zhang, 2017). For details on the optimal observing windows for follow up observations of FRBs associated with SGRs, see (Ravi and Lasky, 2014). The flares from young magnetars are consistent with the properties of the Lori”
• A FAST RADIO BURST IN THE DIRECTION OF THE CARINA DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXY (2014, background): “Despite some predictions (e.g., Ravi & Lasky 2014), no astrophysical transient events at other wavelengths, such as supernovae or gamma-ray bursts, have yet been associated with FRBs.”
• Properties of the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817 (2018, background): “A supramassive star, whose mass is lower but still exceeds the threshold for nonrotating NSs, will spin down on longer timescales before forming a black hole [149].”
• Using Gravitational-wave Observations and Quasi-universal Relations to Constrain the Maximum Mass of Neutron Stars (2017, background): “…within few milliseconds after merger, (see, e.g., Baiotti et al. (2008); Bauswein et al. (2013)), or to determine the lifetime of the merged object (see, e.g., Lasky et al. (2014); Ravi & Lasky (2014); Piro et al. (2017)), the picture on the fate of the post-merger object is still rather uncertain.”
• Dawes Review 6: The Impact of Companions on Stellar Evolution (2016, background): “As their field lines cross the newly formed horizon, they snap and the resulting outwordly propagating magnetic shock dissipates as a short radio burst (e.g., Ravi & Lasky, 2014, known as the ‘blitzar’ model).”