Electromagnetic emission from long-lived binary neutron star merger remnants I: formulation of the problem

Understand

Binary neutron star (BNS) mergers are the leading model to explain the phenomenology of short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs), which are among the most luminous explosions in the universe.

• Recent observations of long-lasting X-ray afterglows of SGRBs challenge standard paradigms and indicate that in a large fraction of events a long-lived neutron star (NS) may be formed rather than a black hole.
• Understanding the mechanisms underlying these afterglows is necessary in order to address the open questions concerning the nature of SGRB central engines.
• However, recent theoretical progress has been hampered by the fact that the timescales of interest for the afterglow emission are inaccessible to numerical relativity simulations.