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arXiv · 2609.14508

First Light of Neutron Star Mergers: Off-axis Cocoon Cooling X-ray Emission from Short Gamma-Ray Burst Jets

Jian-He Zheng·Wenbin Lu
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Abstract

Neutron star mergers (NSMs) are confirmed gravitational wave sources. Identifying an early electromagnetic counterpart for these events is therefore crucial for rapid localization and multimessenger follow-up. However, the associated Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are highly collimated and are therefore easily missed by off-axis observers. An early, less beamed counterpart is essential for identifying the majority of mergers. In this Letter, we investigate the cooling emission from jet-driven cocoons produced by short gamma-ray burst jets propagating through merger ejecta. We perform hydrodynamic simulations and radiative post-processing to calculate the early X-ray emission over a wide range of viewing angles. We find that the mildly relativistic cocoon produces bright soft X-ray transients for off-axis observers, with luminosities of $10^{46-48}{\rm erg\,s^{-1}}$ and durations of a few to ten seconds. The X-ray spectra are quasi-thermal with characteristic temperatures of $0.1$--$1\,{\rm keV}$. For observers at $θ_{\rm v}=10^{\circ}$, the cocoon emission is detectable by Einstein Probe (EP) out to $z\simeq 0.3$. For nearby events like GW170817, it remains detectable up to $θ_{\rm v}\simeq 45^{\circ}$. The predicted detection rate for EP is $0.5\,{\rm yr^{-1}}$ in the canonical model. In future multimessenger campaigns, rapid UV/optical/IR follow-up of such X-ray triggers can subsequently identify the associated kilonova and jet afterglow emission, which will confirm the origin.

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Jian-He Zheng, Wenbin Lu. 2026-09-13. First Light of Neutron Star Mergers: Off-axis Cocoon Cooling X-ray Emission from Short Gamma-Ray Burst Jets. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.14508

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