088306

The afterglow of some nearby short GRBs displays a late-time rebrighteningvisible in the near-infrared a few days after the burst. HST observationsprovided convincing evidence that such late-time bump could be explained askilonova emission. This provides a direct link to neutron star (NS) mergers anda compelling proof for the synthesis of heavy nuclei through the rapid neutroncapture process (r-process). We propose a multi-wavelength follow-up campaign ofa nearby (z and amp lt 0.4) short GRB in order to detect the kilonova bump and constrainits properties. Multi-band observations and in particular X-rays are criticalto pin down the nature of the observed rebrightening and to distinguish it fromstandard afterglow emission. [truncated! Please see actual data for full text]