Transient events from neutron star mergers

There is no doubt that binary neutron stars merge, and that neutron stars merge with stellar mass black holes. It is less clear when there will be direct observational evidence of such events. The popular idea that some gamma-ray bursts are related to such mergers is speculative at this time. Mergers will be among the first sources of gravitational radiation likely to be detected in a decade, or so. However, the first unambiguous evidence for mergers may be provided by optical transients generated by them.