Short gamma-ray bursts from binary neutron star mergers in globular clusters

By J. Grindlay, S. P. Portegies Zwart, S. McMillan. 2005

136 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Observations by the Swift gamma-ray-burst (GRB) mission located short GRBs in (or near) elliptical galaxies, that are no longer active in star formation. This suggested that short GRBs are produced when neutron stars (NSs) merge with other NSs or with black holes (BHs). However, the spatial offset of some short GRBs from their host galaxies is not consistent with double-neutron-star (DNS) systems formed from massive binary stars, which appear to remain in galactic disks. Instead, short GRBs may arise from NS mergers in compact binary systems that are naturally produced in globular clusters, in which extreme densities of very old stars can create and exchange compact binaries efficiently. Here we present a simple scaling from the DNS binary observed in the globular cluster M15 in our own Galaxy to the numbers expected for globular clusters around galaxies generally. We present numerical simulations that demonstrate that DNS production in globular clusters may account for ∼10–30% of the observed short GRBs. The much more numerous DNS merger rates predicted for galactic disks suggests their associated short GRBs are significantly more beamed, perhaps by the aligned spins and greater magnetic field of their secondary NSs.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b509592ba44be50334ce8f0940ff833f5e4853e1

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Citations in the corpus

BLACK HOLE MERGERS AND BLUE STRAGGLERS FROM HIERARCHICAL TRIPLES FORMED IN GLOBULAR CLUSTERS (2015, background): “Taking this fraction to be 10% of all NS-NS mergers (Grindlay et al. 2006; Samsing et al. 2014), and assuming that 1% of these are eccentric inspirals results in 4 × 10−3yr−1, 0.04yr−1, and 0.4yr−1 for the low, realistic, and high detection rates for binary NSs.”
The progenitors of compact-object binaries: impact of metallicity, common envelope and natal kicks (2018, background): “…al. 1993; Sigurdsson & Phinney 1993; Sigurdsson & Hernquist 1993; Sigurdsson & Phinney 1995; Phinney 1996; Colpi et al. 2003; Mapelli et al. 2005; Grindlay et al. 2006; Ivanova et al. 2008; Clausen et al. 2013; Mapelli & Zampieri 2014; Ziosi et al. 2014; Rodriguez et al. 2015, 2016; Mapelli…”
Binary Black Hole Population Properties Inferred from the First and Second Observing Runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (2018, background): “…BBHs might form via dynamical processes in stellar clusters (Kulkarni et al. 1993; Sigurdsson & Hernquist 1993; Portegies Zwart & McMillan 2000; Grindlay et al. 2006; O’Leary et al. 2006; Ivanova et al. 2008; Sadowski et al. 2008; Downing et al. 2010, 2011; Clausen et al. 2013; Ziosi et al.…”
Predictions for the rates of compact binary coalescences observable by ground-based gravitational-wave detectors (2010, background): “In particular, some models favor dynamical formation scenarios in globular clusters for at least some of the SGRB progenitors [44, 47].”
THE AFTERGLOWS OF SWIFT-ERA GAMMA-RAY BURSTS. II. TYPE I GRB VERSUS TYPE II GRB OPTICAL AFTERGLOWS (2008, background): “Another possibility that leads to a low density circumburst medium and a large offset without the need for high kick velocities are mergers in globular clusters (Grindlay et al. 2006; Salvaterra et al. 2008).”
Formation and evolution of compact binaries in globular clusters – II. Binaries with neutron stars (2007, background): “%) contribution to the production of shortγ-ray bursts in old host galaxies as estimated by Grindlay et al. (2006).”
Compact binary coalescences in the band of ground-based gravitational-wave detectors (2009, background): “In particular, Grindlay et al [34] estimate the NS–NS merger rate from all globular clusters in the Galaxy to be 40 per Gyr, a factor of ∼1000 less than predictions for field mergers.”
DOUBLE COMPACT OBJECTS. I. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COMMON ENVELOPE ON MERGER RATES (2012, background): “…dense pop- ulations in which dynamical interactions between stars are important (i.e., globular clusters) have been presented elsewhere (Gültekin et al., 2004; O’Leary et al., 2006; Grindlay et al., 2006; Sadowski et al., 2008; Ivanova et al., 2008; Downing et al., 2010; Miller & Lauburg, 2009).”
Formation of Double Neutron Star Systems (2017, background): “Finally, there is a third formation channel to DNS systems which involves dynamical interactions in dense cluster environments (Phinney & Sigurdsson 1991; Grindlay et al. 2006).”
Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Swift Era (2007, background): “…two compact stars before a coalescence happens (due to the loss of orbital angular momentum via gravitational radiation), the mergerev nts tend to happen in the outskirts of the host galaxy since NSs usually receive a large “kick” velocity at bir h (Bloom et al. 1999b, cf. Grindlay et al. 2006).”
A Study of Compact Object Mergers as Short Gamma-Ray Burst Progenitors (2006, result): “This, combined with our results for the locations of the mergers, indicates that short GRBs in the outskirts of galaxies need not be associated with globular clusters, as recently claimed by Grindlay et al. (2006).”