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Heavy element production in a compact object merger observed by JWST

Abstract

The mergers of binary compact objects such as neutron stars and black holes are of central interest to several areas of astrophysics, including as the progenitors of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)1, sources of high-frequency gravitational waves (GW)2 and likely production sites for heavy element nucleosynthesis via rapid neutron capture (the r-process)3. Here we present observations of the exceptionally bright gamma-ray burst GRB 230307A. We show that GRB 230307A belongs to the class of long-duration gamma-ray bursts associated with compact object mergers4–6, and contains a kilonova similar to AT2017gfo, associated with the gravitational-wave merger GW1708177–12. We obtained James Webb Space Telescope mid-infrared (mid-IR) imaging and spectroscopy 29 and 61 days after the burst. The spectroscopy shows an emission line at 2.15 microns which we interpret as tellurium (atomic mass A=130), and a very red source, emitting most of its light in the mid-IR due to the production of lanthanides. These observations demonstrate that nucleosynthesis in GRBs can create r-process elements across a broad atomic mass range and play a central role in heavy element nucleosynthesis across the Universe.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Andrew Levan, Daniele B. Malesani, Maria Edvige Ravasio, Nicola Gaspari, Tanmoy Laskar & Ashley A. Chrimes

  2. Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Andrew Levan, Kendall Ackley, James Munday, Ingrid Pelisoli & Danny Steeghs

  3. Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Benjamin P. Gompertz & Samantha R. Oates

  4. INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, Merate (LC), Italy

    Om Sharan Salafia, Maria Edvige Ravasio, Sergio Campana, Paolo D’Avanzo, Boris Sbarufatti & Gianpiero Tagliaferri

  5. INFN – Sezione di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, Milano (MI), Italy

    Om Sharan Salafia

  6. Department of Physics and Earth Science, University of Ferrara, via Saragat 1, Ferrara, Italy

    Mattia Bulla

  7. INFN, Sezione di Ferrara, via Saragat 1, Ferrara, Italy

    Mattia Bulla

  8. INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo, via Mentore Maggini snc, Teramo, Italy

    Mattia Bulla

  9. Department of Physics & Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    Eric Burns

  10. Research Center for the Early Universe, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Kenta Hotokezaka

  11. Kavli IPMU (WPI), UTIAS, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan

    Kenta Hotokezaka

  12. DARK, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Jagtvej 128, Copenhagen N, Denmark

    Luca Izzo, Jens Hjorth & Danial Langeroodi

  13. INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Salita Moiariello 16, Napoli, Italy

    Luca Izzo

  14. Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, IC2 Liverpool Science Park, Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Gavin P. Lamb

  15. School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    Gavin P. Lamb, Nial R. Tanvir, Phil A. Evans & Paul O’Brien

  16. Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Copenhagen, Denmark

    Daniele B. Malesani, Gabriel B. Brammer, Lise Christensen, Johan P. U. Fynbo, Kasper E. Heintz & Darach Watson

  17. Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Jagtvej 128, Copenhagen N, Denmark

    Daniele B. Malesani, Gabriel B. Brammer, Lise Christensen, Johan P. U. Fynbo, Kasper E. Heintz & Darach Watson

  18. European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n, Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain

    Alicia Rouco Escorial

  19. Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Benjamin Schneider & Michael Fausnaugh

  20. Nordita, Stockholm University and KTH Royal Institute of Technology Hannes Alfvéns väg 12, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Nikhil Sarin

  21. The Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Physics, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Nikhil Sarin & Steve Schulze

  22. International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA, Australia

    Gemma Anderson

  23. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Vikram S. Dhillon, Alexander J. Brown, Martin J. Dyer, James A. Garbutt, Paul Kerry, Stuart P. Littlefair, Steven G. Parsons & David I. Sahman

  24. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain

    Vikram S. Dhillon

  25. Department of Physics & Astronomy, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Michael Fausnaugh

  26. Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Wen-fai Fong, Anya Nugent & Jillian Rastinejad

  27. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Wen-fai Fong, Anya Nugent & Jillian Rastinejad

  28. Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Andrew S. Fruchter & Kornpob Bhirombhakdi

  29. Center for Theoretical Astrophysics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA

    Chris Fryer

  30. Department of Astronomy, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Chris Fryer

  31. Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Chris Fryer

  32. Department of Physics, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Chris Fryer, Alexander van der Horst & Chryssa Kouveliotou

  33. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA, USA

    Jamie A. Kennea

  34. School of Physics, Kane Building, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Mark R. Kennedy

  35. Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Mark R. Kennedy

  36. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Tanmoy Laskar

  37. DTU Space, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Elektrovej 327, 2800 Kgs., Lyngby, Denmark

    Giorgos Leloudas

  38. School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Ilya Mandel & Duncan K. Galloway

  39. ARC Center of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery – OzGrav, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Ilya Mandel, Duncan K. Galloway, James K. Leung & Danny Steeghs

  40. School of Physics and Centre for Space Research, University College Dublin, Belfield, Ireland

    Antonio Martin-Carrillo

  41. Department of Physics and Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Brian D. Metzger

  42. Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute, 162 5th Ave, New York, NY, USA

    Brian D. Metzger

  43. Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queens University Belfast, Belfast, UK

    Matt Nicholl & Stephen J. Smartt

  44. GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, 5 Place Jule Janssen, Meudon, France

    Jesse T. Palmerio, Andrea Saccardi & Susanna D. Vergani

  45. Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Giovanna Pugliese

  46. Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Lauren Rhodes, Stephen J. Smartt & Heloise F. Stevance

  47. INAF-Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio, Via Piero Gobetti 93/3, Bologna, Italy

    Andrea Rossi

  48. Department of Physics, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

    Heloise F. Stevance

  49. Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Aaron Tohuvavohu

  50. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA

    Thomas Barclay

  51. Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Elmé Breedt

  52. University College London, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, UK

    Alice A. Breeveld

  53. ASI/SSDC, Via del Politecnico SNC, Rome, Italy

    Valerio D’Elia

  54. INAF/OAR, Via Frascati 33, Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy

    Valerio D’Elia

  55. University of Messina, Polo Papardo, Department of Mathematics, Physics, Informatics and Earth Sciences, via F.S. D’Alcontres 31, Messina, Italy

    Massimiliano De Pasquale

  56. School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    Matthew J. Green

  57. Department of Physics and Astronomy & Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA

    Dieter H. Hartmann

  58. Centre for Astrophysics and Cosmology, Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 5, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Páll Jakobsson

  59. CEA, IRFU, DAp, AIM, Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité, Sorbonne Paris Cité, CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Emeric Le Floc’h

  60. Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    James K. Leung

  61. CSIRO Space and Astronomy, PO Box 76, Epping, NSW, Australia

    James K. Leung

  62. Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Apartado de Correos 368, Santa Cruz de La Palma, Spain

    James Munday

  63. INAF/IASF-MI, Via Alfonso Corti 12, Milano, Italy

    Ruben Salvaterra

  64. Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Fričova 298, Ondřejov, Czech Republic

    Christina C. Thöne

  65. Artemis, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Université Côte d’Azur, Boulevard de l’Observatoire, Nice, France

    Antonio de Ugarte Postigo

  66. Hessian Research Cluster ELEMENTS, Giersch Science Center, Max-von-Laue-Straße 12, Goethe University Frankfurt, Campus Riedberg, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    David Alexander Kann

Authors

  1. Andrew Levan
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  2. Benjamin P. Gompertz
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  3. Om Sharan Salafia
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  4. Mattia Bulla
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  5. Eric Burns
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  6. Kenta Hotokezaka
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  7. Luca Izzo
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  8. Gavin P. Lamb
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  9. Daniele B. Malesani
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  10. Samantha R. Oates
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  11. Maria Edvige Ravasio
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  12. Alicia Rouco Escorial
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  13. Benjamin Schneider
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  14. Nikhil Sarin
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  15. Steve Schulze
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  16. Nial R. Tanvir
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  17. Kendall Ackley
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  18. Gemma Anderson
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  19. Gabriel B. Brammer
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  20. Lise Christensen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to
Andrew Levan.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

The Supplementary Information contains further discussion relevant to the nature and properties of GRB 230307A. In particular, we place the burst properties in context with those of other GRBs in both the prompt (SI 1.1) and afterglow regimes (SI 1.2). We also provide further details regarding identifying the host galaxy and its detailed properties in SI 1.3 and 1.4. SI 1.5 considers the extreme brightness of the burst and investigates similarities and differences with other very bright GRBs. In SI 2, we consider the inferred event rates for bursts like GRB 230307A. SI 3 provides additional details regarding modelling the light curve (SI 3.1) and spectrum (SI 3.2). Finally, SI 4 investigates a broad range of alternative progenitor possibilities and their challenges and a justification for our chosen interpretation. This includes the high-z case (SI 4.1), lower redshift supernovae (SI 4.2 and 4.3), Galactic sources (SI 4.4) and white dwarf – neutron star mergers (SI 4.5). Supplementary figures and tables are also provided as referenced in both the main text, methods and supplementary information.

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Levan, A., Gompertz, B.P., Salafia, O.S. et al. Heavy element production in a compact object merger observed by JWST.
Nature (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06759-1

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  • Received: 03 July 2023

  • Accepted: 17 October 2023

  • Published: 25 October 2023

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06759-1

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