12/10/15: SO/NOAO Joint Colloquium Series: Dan Kasen, UC Berkeley
Title: The Electromagnetic Counterparts to Compact Object Mergers
Abstract:
The ejection of radioactive material during, or immediately following, the merger of two neutron stars (or a neutron star and a black hole) can give rise to optical/infrared emission similar to, but dimmer and briefer than that of an ordinary supernova. These transients (called
kilonovae) are promising electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources, and may be diagnostic of the sites of heavy element production. I will describe the physics of kilonovae, and present calculations that demonstrate how the color and brightness of such
events carry information about the merger physics and nucleosynthesis. These models inform observational strategies for finding kilonovae, and illustrate how we can use observations to better understand the sources of gravitational waves and the origin of the heavy elements in the Universe.
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