The “Roman Space Telescope” may be the best way to discover Kilonova. What’s the reason? | Sorae portal site to the universe

A research team led by Eve Chase of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA,Space telescope “Nancy Grace Roman” (hereinafter, “Roman Telescope”) under development is ideal for the discovery of “kilonova”published a paper. The Roman telescope was developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).May 2027A space telescope scheduled to launch

Kilonova, which is difficult to detect with existing telescopes

A kilonova is an explosive phenomenon that occurs when neutron stars left by massive stars that have exploded as supernovas collide with each other.This is what I mean. Despite having a mass close to that of the Sun, the diameter is10kmWhen these high-density neutron stars, said to be only about 6 miles apart, fuse together, they form gold, platinum and strontium.heavy elements are producedwill be The heavy elements produced by Kilonova areForming the crust of future Earth-like rocky planetsIt is believed that

Kilonova, a theoretical phenomenon, was first observed inAugust 17, 2017That’s what I was talking about. American gravitational wave telescope「LIGO」and European gravitational wave telescopes“Virgin”but,About 130 million light yearsGravitational waves from far away「GW170817」After about 1.7 seconds after detection“Fermi” gamma-ray space telescopeis the phenomenon of the emission of high-energy electromagnetic waves“Gamma Ray Burst”detected. Also, as a result of subsequent observations with NASA’s “Hubble” Space Telescope, etc.,Faded glow of scattered debris after the explosionhe was captured.

connection:Kilonova GW170817 detects lanthanum and cerium, first detection of lanthanides in neutron star merger

However, more kilonovas are thought to be occurring in more distant universes, and GW170817, which occurred 130 million light-years away, which is astronomically close, is not necessarily a representative example of a kilonova. Daniel Scolnic of Durham University, UK,“It’s not clear how often kilonovae occur and in which galaxies, whether the kilonova we detected is typical and how bright the outbursts are.”She said.

Chase’s research team includes not only existing telescopes, but also telescopes that will be built and launched in the future.A total of 13 wide-field observation instrumentsWe looked into whether kilonova can detect .

The research team hypothesizes a case in which neutron stars, or a neutron star and a black hole, which are candidates for the kilonova, are detected for the first time as gravitational waves by LIGO, Virgo and the Japanese Wave Telescope gravitational “KAGRA”. that tracking observation is performed with a wide-field observation device after wave detection. As a result, it was concluded that the Roman telescope would have detected the kilonova with a high probability.

[▲ Immagine del rilevamento di kilonova da parte del Roman Space Telescope (Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute)]

The expansion of the universe is said to be one of the reasons the Roman telescope is such a powerful tool for discovering the kilonova. Light (visible light) emitted by celestial bodies that existed billions of years ago becomes longer in wavelength as it travels through the expanding universe, then is observed as infrared rays on Earth (cosmological declination). The Roman Telescope is a telescope specializing in near-infrared sensing,about 7 billion light yearsIt is said that it will be able to detect the kilonova emitted from afar.

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Also, the Roman telescope specializes in observationAnother advantage of the near infraredThere seems to be Kilonova emits electromagnetic waves of various wavelengths,gamma raysteeth‘Short bursts of gamma rays’ lasting less than 2 secondsis output asUV and visible lightteeth1 or 2 daysIt will not be possible to detect it withnear infraredit is also after the neutron stars have merged1 week or moreIt is said to be observable. According to the research team, the Roman telescope will be used after the merger of neutron stars.2 weeks or moreIt is expected to be observable for some time.

Once Roman Telescope observations begin, it is expected that we will be able to obtain a wealth of statistical information, such as where and how often kilonova events occur. Scolnic on the Roman telescope“The Physics of Explosion Phenomena[come la kilonova]will begin to advance statistical studies[come la frequenza delle occorrenze della kilonova]along with a wealth of new analyses”.I have high hopes.

Source

• Image credit: NASA, ESA, J. Olmsted (STScI)
• NASA – How NASA’s Roman Telescope will explore the spectacular explosions
• LIGO – GRAVITATIONAL WAVES AND GAMMA RAYS FROM A MERGER OF BINARY NEUTRON STAR: GW170817 AND GRB 170817A
• doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2105.12268 – Kilonova detectability with wide field instruments
• doi: 10.48550/arXiv.1710.05845 – How many kilonovae can be found in past, present and future survey datasets?
• doi: 10.1038/natura12505 – A ‘kilonova’ associated with the short-lived γ-ray burst GRB 130603B

Text / Misato Kadono