The outflow structure of GW170817 from late-time broad-band observations

Abstract

We present our broad-band study of GW170817 from radio to hard X-rays, including NuSTAR and Chandra observations up to 165 d after the merger, and a multimessenger analysis including LIGO constraints. The data are compared with predictions from a wide range of models, providing the first detailed comparison between non-trivial cocoon and jet models. Homogeneous and power-law shaped jets, as well as simple cocoon models are ruled out by the data, while both a Gaussian shaped jet and a cocoon with energy injection can describe the current data set for a reasonable range of physical parameters, consistent with the typical values derived from short GRB afterglows. We propose that these models can be unambiguously discriminated by future observations measuring the post-peak behaviour, with Fv ∝ t~-1.0 for the cocoon and Fv ∝ t~-2.5 for the jet model.