A new component was reported in the X-ray counterpart to the binary neutron-star merger and gravitational wave event GW170817, exceeding the afterglow emission from an off-axis structured jet. The afterglow emission from the kilonova/macronova ejecta may explain the X-ray excess but exceeds the radio observations if the spectrum is the same. We propose a fallback accretion model that a part of ejecta from the neutron star merger falls back and forms a disk around the central compact object. In the super-Eddington accretion phase, the X-ray luminosity stays near the Eddington limit of a few solar masses and the radio is weak, as observed. This will be followed by a power law decay. The duration of the constant luminosity phase conveys the initial fallback timescale $t_0$ in the past. The current multi-year duration requires $t_0 > 3$--$30$ sec, suggesting that the disk wind rather than the dynamical ejecta falls back after the jet launch. Future observations in the next decades will probe the timescale of $t_0 \sim 10$--$10^4$ sec, around the time of extended emission in short gamma-ray bursts. The fallback accretion has not been halted by the $r$-process heating, implying that fission is weak on the year scale. We predict that the X-ray counterpart will disappear in a few decades due to the $r$-process halting or the depletion of fallback matter.
Constraints on the central engine of merger-driven long gamma-ray bursts
Università di Tor Vergata（托尔维加塔大学）；INAF–Istituto di Radioastronomia（意大利国家天体物理研究所射电天文研究所）；The Open University of Israel（以色列开放大学）；The University of Tokyo（东京大学）；The Pennsylvania State University（宾夕法尼亚州立大学）
The Persistent Radio Sources and Multi-wavelength Counterparts of Fast Radio Bursts in Massive Binary Systems
School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University（南京大学天文与空间科学学院）；Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education（教育部现代天文与天体物理重点实验室（南京大学））；Department of Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学物理学院天文学系）
Discovery of the Infrared Counterpart of the Rapid Burster with JWST
Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院卡夫利天体物理学与空间研究研究所）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna（博洛尼亚大学物理与天文系）；INAF, Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna（意大利国家天体物理研究所博洛尼亚天体物理学与空间科学观测站）
The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/VIRGO GW170817. VI. Radio Constraints on a Relativistic Jet and Predictions for Late-Time Emission from the Kilonova Ejecta
VLASS Discovery of a Luminous Galactic Radio Transient Evolving on Decade Timescales
California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）；National Radio Astronomy Observatory（美国国家射电天文台）；Center for Astrophysics – Harvard & Smithsonian（哈佛-史密森尼天体物理中心）；University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校）；University of California Santa Cruz（加州大学圣克鲁兹分校）；University of Toronto（多伦多大学）
