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Black Hole

Lensing of space time around a black hole. At Oxford we study black holes observationally and theoretically on all size and time scales - it is some of our core work.

Credit: ALAIN RIAZUELO, IAP/UPMC/CNRS. CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE IMAGES.

Professor Stephen Smartt CBE FRS MRIA

Professor of Astrophysics

Research theme

  • Astronomy and astrophysics

Sub department

  • Astrophysics

Research groups

  • Hintze Centre for Astrophysical Surveys
  • Pulsars, transients and relativistic astrophysics
  • Rubin-LSST
stephen.smartt@physics.ox.ac.uk
Telephone: 01865273405
Denys Wilkinson Building, room 714
  • About
  • Publications

Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

Astrophysical Journal Letters Institute of Physics 848:2 (2017) L12

Authors:

BP Abbott, R Abbott, TD Abbott, Robert P Fender, Kunal P Mooley, Philipp Podsiadlowski, Subir Sarkar, Adam J Stewart

Abstract:

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ∼1.7s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg(2) at a luminosity distance of 40+8−8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 M⊙. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ∼40Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One-Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ∼10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ∼9 and ∼16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC 4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta.
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Details from ORA
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Hydrogen-rich supernovae beyond the neutrino-driven core-collapse paradigm

Nature Astronomy Springer Nature 1:10 (2017) 713-720

Authors:

G Terreran, ML Pumo, T-W Chen, TJ Moriya, F Taddia, L Dessart, L Zampieri, SJ Smartt, S Benetti, C Inserra, E Cappellaro, M Nicholl, M Fraser, Ł Wyrzykowski, A Udalski, DA Howell, C McCully, S Valenti, G Dimitriadis, K Maguire, M Sullivan, KW Smith, O Yaron, DR Young, JP Anderson, M Della Valle, N Elias-Rosa, A Gal-Yam, A Jerkstrand, E Kankare, A Pastorello, J Sollerman, M Turatto, Z Kostrzewa-Rutkowska, S Kozłowski, P Mróz, M Pawlak, P Pietrukowicz, R Poleski, D Skowron, J Skowron, I Soszyński, MK Szymański, K Ulaczyk
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Superluminous supernova progenitors have a half-solar metallicity threshold

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) 470:3 (2017) 3566-3573

Authors:

Ting-Wan Chen, Stephen J Smartt, Rob M Yates, Matt Nicholl, Thomas Krühler, Patricia Schady, Michel Dennefeld, Cosimo Inserra
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Towards rapid transient identification and characterization of kilonovae

(2017)

Authors:

Michael Coughlin, Tim Dietrich, Kyohei Kawaguchi, Stephen Smartt, Christopher Stubbs, Maximiliano Ujevic
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Spatially resolved MaNGA observations of the host galaxy of superluminous supernova 2017egm

(2017)

Authors:

Ting-Wan Chen, Patricia Schady, Lin Xiao, JJ Eldridge, Tassilo Schweyer, Chien-Hsiu Lee, Po-Chieh Yu, Stephen J Smartt, Cosimo Inserra
More details from the publisher

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