The Combined Ultraviolet, Optical, and Near-infrared Light Curves of the Kilonova Associated with the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817: Unified Data Set, Analytic Models, and Physical Implications

Abstract We present the first effort to aggregate, homogenize, and uniformly model the combined ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared data set for the electromagnetic counterpart of the binary neutron star merger GW170817. By assembling all of the available data from 18 different papers and 46 different instruments, we are able to identify and mitigate systematic offsets between individual data sets and to identify clear outlying measurements, with the resulting pruned and adjusted data set offering an opportunity to expand the study of the kilonova. The unified data set includes 647 individual flux measurements, spanning 0.45–29.4 days post-merger, and thus has greater constraining power for physical models…