Bright transients from strongly-magnetized neutron star-black hole mergers

Understand

Direct detection of black hole-neutron star pairs is anticipated with the advent of aLIGO.

• Electromagnetic counterparts may be crucial for a confident gravitational-wave detection as well as for extraction of astronomical information.
• Yet black hole-neutron star pairs are notoriously dark and so inaccessible to telescopes.
• Contrary to this expectation, a bright electromagnetic transient can occur in the final moments before merger as long as the neutron star is highly magnetized.