Why these errors are shown

Warning: Unexpected character in input: '\' (ASCII=92) state=1 in /home/a0/public_html/index.php on line 17

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in /home/a0/public_html/index.php on line 17

Why these errors are shown?

<?php

define('IS_DEMO', (gethostname() === 'youtubify' ? 1 : 0));
define('VERSION', 1.5);

require __DIR__.'/application/bootstrap/autoload.php';
$app = require_once __DIR__.'/application/bootstrap/app.php';

$kernel = $app->make('Illuminate\Contracts\Http\Kernel');
$response = $kernel->handle{
    $request = Illuminate\Http\Request::capture() // line 17
};
$response->send();

$kernel->terminate($request, $response);
?>