Light travel time effects in kilonova models

Journal article

The extremely rapid evolution of kilonovae results in spectra that change on an hourly basis. These spectra are key to understanding the processes occurring within the event, but this rapid evolution is an unfamiliar domain compared to other explosive transient events, such as supernovae. In particular, the most obvious P Cygni feature in the spectra of AT2017gfo – commonly attributed to strontium – possesses an emission component that emerges after, and ultimately outlives, its associated absorption dip. This delay is theorized to arise from reverberation effects, wherein photons emitted earlier in the kilonova’s evolution are scattered before reaching the observer, causing them to be detected at later times. We aim to examine how the finite speed of light – and therefore the light travel time to an observer – contributes to the shape and evolution of spectral features in kilonovae. Using a simple model, and tracking the length of the journey photons undertake to an observer, we are able to test the necessity of accounting for this time delay effect when modelling kilonovae. In periods where the photospheric temperature is rapidly evolving, we show spectra synthesized using a time-independent approach are visually distinct from those where these time delay effects are accounted for. Therefore, in rapidly evolving events such as kilonovae, time dependence must be taken into account.

Authors: McNeill, F; Sim, SA; Collins, CE; Shingles, LJ; Damgaard, R

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Volume: 546
• Issue: 2
• Article number: stag068
• Publication date: 2026-01-13
• Acceptance date: 2026-01-06
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stag068
• EISSN: 1365-2966
• ISSN: 0035-8711
• Language: English
• Keywords: line: profiles; stars: neutron; line: formation; radiative transfer