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arXiv · 2508.15235

The color evolution of magnetar-powered kilonova emission in merging neutron star-neutron star systems

Suo-Ning Wang·Hou-Jun Lü·Xiao-Xuan Liu·Jared Rice·Jia Ren·En-Wei Liang
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Abstract

The first direct detection of the gravitational wave (GW) event GW170817 and its electromagnetic (EM) counterpart open a new window for studying of multi-messenger astronomy. However, how to identify the remnant of binary neutron star (NS) merger via EM radiation remain an open question. In this paper, we propose a method of color evolution of kilonova emission to identify its progenitors. We assume that the energy of the kilonova is contributed from radioactive decay, magnetar spin-down, and pulsar wind nebula (PWN). The color evolution of kilonova emission associated with short GRB is significant when the spectrum is thermal emission, while it tends towards a constant when the spectrum is non-thermal radiation. On the other hand, if the central engine is a black hole (BH) which is promptly generated by the NS-NS merger or NS-BH merger, then the kilonova is powered only by the radioactive decay. There is no color evolution at the beginning before the peak of kilonova emission, but is significantly and rapidly increasing after the peak. On the contrary, if the central engine is a magnetar or stable NS, the kilonova emission is contributed from radioactive decay, magnetar, and PWN. The color evolution after the peak of kilonova emission is complex behavior which depends on the rotational energy and spin-down time-scale of magnetar, and finally tend to a constant in the late state.

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Suo-Ning Wang, Hou-Jun Lü, Xiao-Xuan Liu, Jared Rice, Jia Ren, En-Wei Liang. 2025-08-21. The color evolution of magnetar-powered kilonova emission in merging neutron star-neutron star systems. https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.15235

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