Astrophysics Seminar/Journal Club

The Astrophysics faculty and students meet weekly to present local talks and discuss recent work from the literature.

This week we will be discussing selected papers associated with the recently announced LIGO detection of a neutron star merger and its follow-up and implications.  There is an entire issue of ApJ Letters on this topic.  Locals listed here will lead a brief discussion on the paper listed with them:

• Preethi Nair — “The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. VII. Properties of the Host Galaxy and Constraints on the Merger Timescale” and The Old Host-galaxy Environment of SSS17a, the First Electromagnetic Counterpart to a Gravitational-wave Source
• Dawn Williams — “Search for High-Energy Neutrinos from Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817 with Antares, IceCube, and the Pierre Auger Observatory“
• Dean Townsley — “The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. II. UV, Optical, and Near-infrared Light Curves and Comparison to Kilonova Models” and “The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. IV. Detection of Near-infrared Signatures of r-process Nucleosynthesis with Gemini-South“
• Broxton Miles — “The Origin of r-Process Elements in the Milky Way“