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 (GWs)²and likely production sites for heavy-element nucleosynthesis by means of rapid neutron capture (ther-process)³. Here we present observations of the exceptionally bright GRB 230307A. We show that GRB 230307A belongs to the class of long-duration GRBs associated with compact object mergers^4–6and contains a kilonova similar to AT2017gfo, associated with the GW merger GW170817 (refs. ^7–12). We obtained James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mid-infrared 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 massA = 130) and a very red source, emitting most of its light in the mid-infrared owing to the production of lanthanides. These observations demonstrate that nucleosynthesis in GRBs can creater-process elements across a broad atomic mass range and play a central role in heavy-element nucleosynthesis across the Universe.

We present observations of the optical afterglow of GRB 170817A, made by the Hubble Space Telescope, between 2018 February and August, up to one year after the neutron star merger GW170817. The afterglow shows a rapid decline beyond 170 days, and confirms the jet origin for the observed outflow, in contrast to more slowly declining expectations for “failed-jet” scenarios. We show here that the broadband (radio, optical, X-ray) afterglow is consistent with a structured outflow where an ultra-relativistic jet, with a Lorentz factor of Γ ≳ 100, forms a narrow core (∼5°) and is surrounded by a wider angular component that extends to ∼15°, which is itself relativistic (Γ ≳ 5). For a two-component model of this structure, the late-time optical decline, where F ∝ t ^−α , is α = 2.20 ± 0.18, and for a Gaussian structure the decline is α = 2.45 ± 0.23. We find the Gaussian model to be consistent with both the early ∼10 days and late ≳290 days data. The agreement of the optical light curve with the evolution of the broadband spectral energy distribution, and its continued decline, indicates that the optical flux is arising primarily from the afterglow and not any underlying host system. This provides the deepest limits on any host stellar cluster with a luminosity ≲4000 L _⊙ (M _F606W ≳ −4.3).

We show the peak magnitude for orphan afterglows from the jets of gravitational wave (GW) detected black hole/neutron star – neutron star (BH/NS–NS) mergers highly depend on the jet half-opening angle θ_j. Short γ-ray bursts (GRBs) with a homogeneous jet structure and θ_j > 10°, the orphan afterglow viewed at the typical inclination for a GW detected event, 38°, are brighter at optical frequencies than the comparable macronova emission. Structured jets, where the energetics and Lorentz factor Γ vary with angle from the central axis, may have low-Γ components where the prompt emission is suppressed; GW electromagnetic (EM) counterparts may reveal a population of failed-GRB orphan afterglows. Using a Monte Carlo method assuming an NS–NS detection limit we show the fraction of GW-EM counterparts from homogeneous, two-component, power-law structured and Gaussian jets where the variable structure models include a wide low energy and Γ component: for homogeneous jets, with a θ_j = 6° and typical short GRB parameters, we find r-band magnitude m_r ≤ 21 counterparts for ∼13.6 per cent of GW detected mergers; where jet structure extends to a half-opening angle of 25°, two-component jets produce m_r ≤ 21 counterparts in ∼30 per cent of GW detected mergers, power-law structured-jets result in ∼37 per cent and Gaussian jets with our parameters ∼13 per cent. We show the features in the light curves from orphan afterglows can be used to indicate the presence of extended structure.

We report our identification of the optical afterglow and host galaxy of the short-duration gamma-ray burst sGRB 160821B. The spectroscopic redshift of the host is z = 0.162, making it one of the lowest redshift short-duration gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) identified by Swift. Our intensive follow-up campaign using a range of ground-based facilities as well as Hubble Space Telescope, XMM-Newton, and Swift, shows evidence for a late-time excess of optical and near-infrared emission in addition to a complex afterglow. The afterglow light curve at X-ray frequencies reveals a narrow jet, deg, that is refreshed at >1 day post-burst by a slower outflow with significantly more energy than the initial outflow that produced the main GRB. Observations of the 5 GHz radio afterglow shows a reverse shock into a mildly magnetized shell. The optical and near-infrared excess is fainter than AT2017gfo associated with GW170817, and is well explained by a kilonova with dynamic ejecta mass M _dyn = (1.0 ± 0.6) × 10⁻³ M _⊙ and a secular (post-merger) ejecta mass with M _pm = (1.0 ± 0.6) × 10⁻² M _⊙, consistent with a binary neutron star merger resulting in a short-lived massive neutron star. This optical and near-infrared data set provides the best-sampled kilonova light curve without a gravitational wave trigger to date.