Heavy-element production in a compact object merger observed by JWST

Authors

Andrew J. Levan, Radboud Universiteit
Benjamin P. Gompertz, University of Birmingham
Om Sharan Salafia, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera
Mattia Bulla, University of Ferrara
Eric Burns, Louisiana State University
Kenta Hotokezaka, Research Center for the Early Universe
Luca Izzo, Niels Bohr Institutet
Gavin P. Lamb, Liverpool John Moores University
Daniele B. Malesani, Radboud Universiteit
Samantha R. Oates, University of Birmingham
Maria Edvige Ravasio, Radboud Universiteit
Alicia Rouco Escorial, European Space Astronomy Centre
Benjamin Schneider, MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Nikhil Sarin, The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
Steve Schulze, Oskar Klein Centre
Nial R. Tanvir, University of Leicester
Kendall Ackley, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine
Gemma Anderson, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
Gabriel B. Brammer, Cosmic Dawn Center
Lise Christensen, Cosmic Dawn Center
Vikram S. Dhillon, The University of Sheffield
Phil A. Evans, University of Leicester
Michael Fausnaugh, MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Wen Fai Fong, Northwestern University
Andrew S. Fruchter, Space Telescope Science Institute
Chris Fryer, Center for Theoretical Astrophysics
Johan P.U. Fynbo, Cosmic Dawn Center
Nicola Gaspari, Radboud Universiteit
Kasper E. Heintz, Cosmic Dawn Center
Jens Hjorth, Niels Bohr Institutet
Jamie A. Kennea, Pennsylvania State University
Mark R. Kennedy, University College Cork
Tanmoy Laskar, Radboud Universiteit

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-22-2024

Abstract

The mergers of binary compact objects such as neutron stars and black holes are of central interest to several areas of astrophysics, including as the progenitors of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)¹, sources of high-frequency gravitational waves (GWs)² and likely production sites for heavy-element nucleosynthesis by means of rapid neutron capture (the r-process)³. Here we present observations of the exceptionally bright GRB 230307A. We show that GRB 230307A belongs to the class of long-duration GRBs associated with compact object mergers^4–6 and contains a kilonova similar to AT2017gfo, associated with the GW merger GW170817 (refs. ^7–12). We obtained James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopy 29 and 61 days after the burst. The spectroscopy shows an emission line at 2.15 microns, which we interpret as tellurium (atomic mass A = 130) and a very red source, emitting most of its light in the mid-infrared owing to the production of lanthanides. These observations demonstrate that nucleosynthesis in GRBs can create r-process elements across a broad atomic mass range and play a central role in heavy-element nucleosynthesis across the Universe.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Nature

First Page

737

Last Page

741

Recommended Citation

Levan, A., Gompertz, B., Salafia, O., Bulla, M., Burns, E., Hotokezaka, K., Izzo, L., Lamb, G., Malesani, D., Oates, S., Ravasio, M., Rouco Escorial, A., Schneider, B., Sarin, N., Schulze, S., Tanvir, N., Ackley, K., Anderson, G., Brammer, G., Christensen, L., Dhillon, V., Evans, P., Fausnaugh, M., Fong, W., Fruchter, A., Fryer, C., Fynbo, J., Gaspari, N., Heintz, K., Hjorth, J., Kennea, J., Kennedy, M., & Laskar, T. (2024). Heavy-element production in a compact object merger observed by JWST. Nature, 626 (8000), 737-741. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06759-1