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On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ∼ 1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40 − 8 + 8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 M ⊙ . An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ∼ 40 Mpc ) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One-Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ∼10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ∼ 9 and ∼ 16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC 4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta.

We report an extensive search for Ly emitters (LAEs) at z ¼ 6:5 in the Subaru Deep Field. Subsequent spectroscopy with Subaru and Keck identified eight more LAEs, giving a total of 17 spectroscopically confirmed LAEs at z ¼ 6:5. Based on this spectroscopic sample of 17, complemented by a photometric sample of 58 LAEs, we have derived a more accurate Ly luminosity function of LAEs at z ¼ 6:5, which reveals an apparent deficit at the bright end of $0.75 mag fainter L Ã , compared with that observed at z ¼ 5:7. The difference in the LAE luminosity functions between z ¼ 5:7 and 6.5 is significant at the 3 level, which is reduced to 2 when cosmic variance is taken into account. This result may imply that the reionization of the universe has not been completed at z ¼ 6:5. We found that the spatial distribution of LAEs at z ¼ 6:5 was homogeneous over the field. We discuss the implications of these results for the reionization of the universe.

Previous detections of individual astrophysical sources of neutrinos are limited to the Sun and the supernova 1987A, whereas the origins of the diffuse flux of high-energy cosmic neutrinos remain unidentified. On 22 September 2017, we detected a high-energy neutrino, IceCube-170922A, with an energy of ~290 tera-electron volts. Its arrival direction was consistent with the location of a known γ-ray blazar, TXS 0506+056, observed to be in a flaring state. An extensive multiwavelength campaign followed, ranging from radio frequencies to γ-rays. These observations characterize the variability and energetics of the blazar and include the detection of TXS 0506+056 in very-high-energy γ-rays. This observation of a neutrino in spatial coincidence with a γ-ray-emitting blazar during an active phase suggests that blazars may be a source of high-energy neutrinos.

We report the properties of the 35 robust candidates of Lyα blobs (LABs), which are larger than 16 arcsec 2 in isophotal area and brighter than 0.7 × 10 −16 ergs s −1 cm −2 , searched in and around the proto-cluster region at redshift z = 3.1 discovered by Steidel et al. in the SSA22 field, based on wide-field (31 ′ × 23 ′ ) and deep narrow-band (NB497; 4977/77) and broad-band (B,V , and R) images taken with the prime-focus camera on the Subaru telescope. The two previously known giant LABs are the most luminous and the largest ones in our survey volume of 1.3 × 10 5 Mpc 3 . We revealed the internal structures of the two giant LABs and discovered some bubble-like features, which suggest that intensive starburst and galactic superwind phenomena occurred in these objects in the past. The rest 33 LABs have isophotal area of ∼16-78 arcsec 2 and flux of 0.7-7 ×10 −16 ergs s −1 cm −2 . These 35 LABs show a continuous distribution of isophotal area and emission line flux. The distributions of average surface brightness and morphology are widespread from relatively compact high surface 1 Based on data collected at Subaru Telescope and in part obtained from data archive at Astronomical Data Analysis Center, which are operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.