Optical measurement of superluminal motion in the neutron-star merger GW170817

Abstract

The afterglow of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 gave evidence for a structured relativistic jet and a link between such mergers and short gamma-ray bursts. Superluminal motion, found using radio very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), together with the afterglow light curve provided constraints on the viewing angle (14-28 degrees), the opening angle of the jet core (less than about 5 degrees), and a modest limit on the initial Lorentz factor of the jet core (more than 4). Here we report on another superluminal motion measurement, at seven times the speed of light, leveraging Hubble Space Telescope precision astrometry and previous radio VLBI data of GW170817. We thereby obtain a unique measurement of the Lorentz factor of the wing of the structured jet, as well as substantially improved constraints on the viewing angle (19-25 degrees) and the initial Lorentz factor of the jet core (more than 40).