INTEGRAL Detection of the First Prompt Gamma-Ray Signal Coincident with the Gravitational-wave Event GW170817

By V. Savchenko, C. Ferrigno, E. Kuulkers, A. Bazzano, E. Bozzo, S. Brandt, J. Chenevez, T. Courvoisier, R. Diehl, A. Domingo and 13 more. 2017

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We report the INTernational Gamma-ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) detection of the short gamma-ray burst GRB 170817A (discovered by Fermi-GBM) with a signal-to-noise ratio of 4.6, and, for the first time, its association with the gravitational waves (GWs) from binary neutron star (BNS) merging event GW170817 detected by the LIGO and Virgo observatories. The significance of association between the gamma-ray burst observed by INTEGRAL and GW170817 is 3.2σ, while the association between the Fermi-GBM and INTEGRAL detections is 4.2σ. GRB 170817A was detected by the SPI-ACS instrument about 2 s after the end of the GW event. We measure a fluence of (1.4 ± 0.4 ± 0.6) × 10−7 erg cm−2 (75–2000 keV), where, respectively, the statistical error is given at the 1σ confidence level, and the systematic error corresponds to the uncertainty in the spectral model and instrument response. We also report on the pointed follow-up observations carried out by INTEGRAL, starting 19.5 hr after the event, and lasting for 5.4 days. We provide a stringent upper limit on any electromagnetic signal in a very broad energy range, from 3 keV to 8 MeV, constraining the soft gamma-ray afterglow flux to <7.1 × 10−11 erg cm−2 s−1 (80–300 keV). Exploiting the unique capabilities of INTEGRAL, we constrained the gamma-ray line emission from radioactive decays that are expected to be the principal source of the energy behind a kilonova event following a BNS coalescence. Finally, we put a stringent upper limit on any delayed bursting activity, for example, from a newly formed magnetar.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/dc827a3cf620781601e89de62ad6d01c22bc69c4

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Citations in the corpus

Merging black holes in young star clusters (2019, background): “…emission almost in all the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to gamma rays (Abbott et al. 2017d; Abbott et al. 2017e; Goldstein et al. 2017; Savchenko et al. 2017; Margutti et al. 2017; Coulter et al. 2017; Soares-Santos et al. 2017; Chornock et al. 2017; Cowperthwaite et al. 2017; Nicholl…”
The Combined Ultraviolet, Optical, and Near-infrared Light Curves of the Kilonova Associated with the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817: Unified Data Set, Analytic Models, and Physical Implications (2017, background): “A spatially coincident short-duration gamma-ray burst was detected with a delay of 1.7 s relative to the merger time (Abbott et al. 2017c; Goldstein et al. 2017; Savchenko et al. 2017).”
The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. II. UV, Optical, and Near-infrared Light Curves and Comparison to Kilonova Models (2017, methodology): “This source was coincident with a short burst of gamma-rays detected by both Fermi/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and INTEGRAL (GRB 170817A; Blackburn et al. 2017; Goldstein et al. 2017a, 2017b; Savchenko et al. 2017a, 2017b; von Kienlin et al. 2017).”
The progenitors of compact-object binaries: impact of metallicity, common envelope and natal kicks (2018, background): “…accompanied by electromagnetic radiation over a large range of wavelengths, from radio to gamma-rays (Abbott et al. 2017e; Goldstein et al. 2017; Savchenko et al. 2017; Margutti et al. 2017; Coulter et al. 2017; Soares-Santos et al. 2017; Chornock et al. 2017; Cowperthwaite et al. 2017; Nicholl…”
The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. VI. Radio Constraints on a Relativistic Jet and Predictions for Late-time Emission from the Kilonova Ejecta (2017, background): “The localization of GW170817 was spatially coincident with a weak gamma-ray transient detected by Fermi/GBM (Blackburn et al. 2017; Goldstein et al. 2017a, 2017b; von Kienlin et al. 2017) and INTEGRAL (Savchenko et al. 2017a, 2017b), termed GRB 170817A. Subsequently, an 14 Hubble Fellow. optical cou”
Science case for the Einstein telescope (2019, background): “Even if it showed the classical observational features that led to classify it as a short GRB, its total gamma-ray energy of about 1046 erg was many orders of magnitude smaller than the typical energy of any GRB observed before [3, 4].”
Constraining the Maximum Mass of Neutron Stars from Multi-messenger Observations of GW170817 (2017, background): “2 seconds of the inferred coalescence time of GW170817 (Goldstein et al. 2017; Savchenko et al. 2017; LIGO Scientific Collaboration et al. 2017b).”