Quasiperiodic Oscillation in Short Gamma-Ray Bursts from Black Hole–Neutron Star Mergers

Short-duration gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) are commonly attributed to the mergers of double neutron stars (NSs) or the mergers of a neutron star with a black hole (BH). While the former scenario was confirmed by the event GW170817, the latter remains elusive. Here, we consider the latter scenario in wh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2023-10, Vol.955 (2), p.98
Main Authors: Li, Yan, Shen, Rong-Feng, Zhang, Bin-Bin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astrophysics
Black holes
Deposition
Gamma ray astronomy
Gamma ray bursts
Gamma rays
Gravitational wave sources
Gravitational waves
Light curve
Modulation
Neutron stars
Neutrons
Relativistic jets
Star mergers
Stars
Stars & galaxies
Stellar mass black holes
Stellar oscillations
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Summary:Short-duration gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) are commonly attributed to the mergers of double neutron stars (NSs) or the mergers of a neutron star with a black hole (BH). While the former scenario was confirmed by the event GW170817, the latter remains elusive. Here, we consider the latter scenario in which an NS is tidally disrupted by a fast-spinning low-mass BH and the accretion onto the BH launches a relativistic jet and hence produces an sGRB. The merging binary’s orbit is likely misaligned with the BH’s spin. Hence, the Lense–Thirring precession around the BH may cause a hyperaccreting thick disk to precess in a solid-body manner. We propose that a jet, initially aligned with the BH spin, is deflected and collimated by the wind from the disk, therefore being forced to precess along with the disk. This would result in a quasiperiodic oscillation or modulation in the gamma-ray light curve of the sGRB, with a quasi-period of ∼0.01–0.1 s. The appearance of the modulation may be delayed respective to the triggering of the light curve. This feature, unique to the BH–NS merger, may have already revealed itself in a few observed sGRBs (such as GRB 130310A), and it carries the spin–orbit orientation information of the merging system. Identification of this feature would be a new approach to reveal spin–orbit misaligned merging BH–NS systems, which are likely missed by the current gravitational-wave searching strategy that is principally targeting aligned systems.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/acefbf