An Ordinary Short Gamma-Ray Burst with Extraordinary Implications: Fermi-GBM Detection of GRB 170817A

Authors

A. Goldstein, Huntsville Program Office
P. Veres, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
E. Burns, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
M. S. Briggs, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
R. Hamburg, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
D. Kocevski, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
C. A. Wilson-Hodge, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
R. D. Preece, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
S. Poolakkil, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
O. J. Roberts, Huntsville Program Office
C. M. Hui, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
V. Connaughton, Huntsville Program Office
J. Racusin, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
A. Von Kienlin, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
T. Dal Canton, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
N. Christensen, Carleton College, USA
T. Littenberg, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
K. Siellez, Georgia Institute of Technology
L. Blackburn, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
J. Broida, Carleton College, USA
E. Bissaldi, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari
W. H. Cleveland, Huntsville Program Office
M. H. Gibby, Jacobs Technology Inc.
M. M. Giles, Jacobs Technology Inc.
R. M. Kippen, Los Alamos National Laboratory
S. McBreen, University College Dublin
J. McEnery, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
C. A. Meegan, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research
W. S. Paciesas, Huntsville Program Office
M. Stanbro, The University of Alabama in Huntsville

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-20-2017

Abstract

On 2017 August 17 at 12:41:06 UTC the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) detected and triggered on the short gamma-ray burst (GRB) 170817A. Approximately 1.7 s prior to this GRB, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory triggered on a binary compact merger candidate associated with the GRB. This is the first unambiguous coincident observation of gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation from a single astrophysical source and marks the start of gravitational-wave multi-messenger astronomy. We report the GBM observations and analysis of this ordinary short GRB, which extraordinarily confirms that at least some short GRBs are produced by binary compact mergers.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Astrophysical Journal Letters

Recommended Citation

Goldstein, A., Veres, P., Burns, E., Briggs, M., Hamburg, R., Kocevski, D., Wilson-Hodge, C., Preece, R., Poolakkil, S., Roberts, O., Hui, C., Connaughton, V., Racusin, J., Kienlin, A., Canton, T., Christensen, N., Littenberg, T., Siellez, K., Blackburn, L., Broida, J., Bissaldi, E., Cleveland, W., Gibby, M., Giles, M., Kippen, R., McBreen, S., McEnery, J., Meegan, C., Paciesas, W., & Stanbro, M. (2017). An Ordinary Short Gamma-Ray Burst with Extraordinary Implications: Fermi-GBM Detection of GRB 170817A. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 848 (2) https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aa8f41