What happens when a magnetar powers a neutron star merger jet?

When two neutron stars merge, a rapidly spinning magnetar can form and launch a relativistic jet outward, creating a pulsar wind nebula trapped between forward and reverse shocks. The team modeled the full multiwavelength emission from this system as it evolves: early thermal glow from the merger debris, followed by X-ray plateaus as the jet breaks through, and finally high-energy gamma rays from the nebula's shock at late times. The model successfully explains the diverse light curves and gamma-ray bumps seen in recent neutron star merger events and predicts these systems should be detectable TeV sources.