Kilonovae: nUV/Optical/IR Counterparts of Neutron Star Binary Mergers with TSO. (arXiv:1903.05736v1 [astro-ph.HE])

Kilonovae: nUV/Optical/IR Counterparts of Neutron Star Binary Mergers with TSO. (arXiv:1903.05736v1 [astro-ph.HE])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Metzger_B/0/1/0/all/0/1">Brian D. Metzger</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Berger_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">Edo Berger</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Grindlay_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jonathan Grindlay</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Gezari_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Suvi Gezari</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Ivezic_Z/0/1/0/all/0/1">Zeljko Ivezic</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Jencson_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jacob Jencson</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kasliwal_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Mansi Kasliwal</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kutyrev_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Alexander Kutyrev</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Macleod_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Chelsea Macleod</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Melnick_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">Gary Melnick</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Purcell_B/0/1/0/all/0/1">Bill Purcell</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Rieke_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">George Rieke</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Shen_Y/0/1/0/all/0/1">Yue Shen</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Tanvir_N/0/1/0/all/0/1">Nial Tanvir</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Vasey_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Michael Wood Vasey</a>

With the epochal first detection of gravitational waves from a binary neutron
star (NS) merger with the GW170817 event, and its direct confirmation that
NS-NS mergers are significant sources of the of the r-process nucleosynthesis
of heavy elements, an immense new arena for prompt EM (X-rays through IR and
radio) studies of fundamental physics has been opened. Over the next decade, GW
observatories will expand in scale and sensitivity so the need for facilities
that can provide prompt, high sensitivity, broad-band EM followup becomes more
urgent. NS-NS or NS-black hole (BH) mergers will be instantly recognized (and
announced) by the LIGO-international collaboration. LSST will be a prime
resource for rapid tiling of what will usually be large (~10-100 degree
squared) error boxes. X-ray through IR Telescopes in space with (nearly)
full-sky access that can rapidly image and tile are crucial for providing the
earliest imaging and spectroscopic studies of the kilonova emission immediately
following NS-NS mergers. The Time-domain Spectroscopic Observatory (TSO) is a
proposed Probe-class 1.3 m telescope at L2, with imaging and spectroscopy (R =
200, 1800) in 4 bands (0.3 – 5 micron) and rapid slew capability to 90% of sky.
TSO nUV-mid-IR spectra will enable new constraints on NS structure and
nucleosynthesis.

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