Kavli Affiliate: Daniel E. Holz
| First 5 Authors: Michael Zevin, Anya E. Nugent, Susmita Adhikari, Wen-fai Fong, Daniel E. Holz
| Summary:
The delay time distribution of neutron star mergers provides critical
insights into binary evolution processes and the merger rate evolution of
compact object binaries. However, current observational constraints on this
delay time distribution rely on the small sample of Galactic double neutron
stars (with uncertain selection effects), a single multimessenger
gravitational-wave event, and indirect evidence of neutron star mergers based
on $r$-process enrichment. We use a sample of 67 host galaxies of short
gamma-ray bursts to place novel constraints on the delay time distribution, and
leverage this result to infer the merger rate evolution of compact object
binaries containing neutron stars. We recover a power-law slope of $alpha =
-1.82^{+0.40}_{-0.41}$ and a minimum delay time of $t_mathrm{min} =
171^{+74}_{-91}~mathrm{Myr}$ (median and 90% credible interval), with the
maximum delay time constrained to $t_mathrm{max} > 7.73~mathrm{Gyr}$ at 99%
credibility. We find these constraints to be broadly consistent with
theoretical expectations, although our recovered power-law slope is
substantially steeper than the conventional value of $t_mathrm{d}^{-1}$, and
our minimum delay time is larger than the typically assumed value of
$10~mathrm{Myr}$. Pairing this cosmological probe of the fate of compact
object binary systems with the Galactic population of double neutron stars will
be crucial for understanding the unique selection effects governing both of
these populations. In addition to probing a significantly larger redshift
regime of neutron star mergers than possible with current gravitational-wave
detectors, complementing our results with future multimessenger
gravitational-wave events will also help determine if short gamma-ray bursts
ubiquitously result from compact object binary mergers.
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