Synchrotron radiation from the fast tail of dynamical ejecta of neutron star mergers

Understand

We find, using high resolution numerical relativistic simulations, that the tail of the dynamical ejecta of neutron star mergers extends to mildly relativistic velocities faster than $0.7c$.

• The kinetic energy of this fast tail is $\sim 10^{47}$--$10^{49}$ erg, depending on the neutron star equation of state and on the binary masses.
• The synchrotron flare arising from the interaction of this fast tail with the surrounding ISM can power the observed non-thermal emission that followed GW170817, provided that the ISM density is $\sim 10^{-2}\,{\rm cm^{-3}}$, the two neutron stars had roughly equal masses and the neutron star equation of state is soft (small neutron star radii).
• One of the generic predictions of this scenario is that the cooling frequency crosses the X-ray band on a time scale of a few months to a year, leading to a cooling break in the X-ray light curve.