Sign on

SAO/NASA ADS Astronomy Abstract Service

· Find Similar Abstracts (with default settings below)
· Electronic Refereed Journal Article (HTML)
· Full Refereed Journal Article (PDF/Postscript)
· arXiv e-print (arXiv:0808.1284)
· References in the article
· Citations to the Article (5) (Citation History)
· Refereed Citations to the Article
· Also-Read Articles (Reads History)
·
· Translate This Page
Title:
Delayed X-ray emission from fallback in compact-object mergers
Authors:
Rossi, Elena M.; Begelman, Mitchell C.
Affiliation:
AA(JILA, University of Colorado at Boulder, 440 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA), AB(JILA, University of Colorado at Boulder, 440 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA; Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA)
Publication:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 392, Issue 4, pp. 1451-1455. (MNRAS Homepage)
Publication Date:
02/2009
Origin:
MNRAS
MNRAS Keywords:
accretion, accretion discs , black hole physics
DOI:
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.14139.x
Bibliographic Code:
2009MNRAS.392.1451R

Abstract

When double neutron star or neutron star-black hole binaries merge, the final remnant may comprise a central solar-mass black hole surrounded by a ~0.01-0.1Msolar torus. The subsequent evolution of this disc may be responsible for short γ-ray bursts (SGRBs). A comparable amount of mass is ejected into eccentric orbits and will eventually fallback to the merger site after ~0.01 s. In this paper, we investigate analytically the fate of the fallback matter, which may provide a luminous signal long after the disc is exhausted. We find that matter in the eccentric tail returns at a super-Eddington rate and eventually (>~0.1 s) is unable to cool via neutrino emission and accrete all the way to the black hole. Therefore, contrary to previous claims, our analysis suggests that fallback matter is not an efficient source of late-time accretion power and unlikely to cause the late-flaring activity observed in SGRB afterglows. The fallback matter rather forms a radiation-driven wind or a bound atmosphere. In both the cases, the emitting plasma is very opaque and photons are released with a degraded energy in the X-ray band. We therefore suggest that compact binary mergers could be followed by an `X-ray renaissance', as late as several days to weeks after the merger. This might be observed by the next generation of X-ray detectors.
Bibtex entry for this abstract   Preferred format for this abstract (see Preferences)
   

Find Similar Abstracts:

Use: Authors
Title
Keywords (in text query field)
Abstract Text
Return: Query Results Return    items starting with number
Query Form
Database: Astronomy
Physics
arXiv e-prints