Re-solving the jet/cocoon riddle of the first gravitational wave with an electromagnetic counterpart

G. Ghirlanda, O. S. Salafia, Z. Paragi, M. Giroletti, J. Yang, B. Marcote, J. Blanchard, I. Agudo, T. An, M. G. Bernardini, R. Beswick, M. Branchesi, S. Campana, C. Casadio, E. Chassande-Mottin, M. Colpi, S. Covino, P. D'Avanzo, V. D'Elia, S. Frey, M. Gawronski, G. Ghisellini, L. I. Gurvits, P. G. Jonker, H. J. van Langevelde, A. Melandri, J. Moldon, L. Nava, A. Perego, M. A. Perez-Torres, C. Reynolds, R. Salvaterra, G. Tagliaferri, T. Venturi, S. D. Vergani, M. Zhang

Published 2018-08-01Version 1

The first binary neutron star merger, detected through both electromagnetic radiation and gravitational waves on the 17th of August 2017, raised the question whether a narrow relativistic jet or a more isotropic outflow was launched as a consequence of the merger. High resolution measurements of the source size and position can provide the answer. Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations, performed 207.4 days after the binary merger through a global network of 32 radio telescopes spread over five continents, constrain the apparent source size to be smaller than 2 milliarcseconds at the 90% confidence level. This excludes the possibility that a nearly isotropic, mildly relativistic outflow is responsible for the emission, as in this case its apparent size, after more than six months of expansion, should have been significantly larger and resolved by the VLBI observation. Our size measurement proves that in at least 10% of neutron star mergers a structured relativistic jet should be produced.