Related papers: Metallicity-Suppressed Collapsars Cannot be the Do…
We use observations of heavy elements in very metal-poor stars ([Fe/H] < -2.5) in order to place constraints on the viability of collapsar models as a significant source of the r-process. We combine bipolar explosion nucleosynthesis…
The origin of half of the rapid neutron-capture nucleosynthesis (r-process) elements in the Universe remains an open question. Binary neutron star (BNS) mergers have been shown to face difficulties in reproducing the observed r-process…
There are many candidate sites of the r-process: core-collapse supernovae (including rare magnetorotational core-collapse supernovae), neutron star mergers, and neutron star/black hole mergers. The chemical enrichment of…
This chapter presents an overview of the recent progress on spectroscopic observations of metal-poor stars with r-process element signatures found in the Milky Way's stellar halo and satellite dwarf galaxies. Major empirical lessons related…
The main astronomical source of r-process elements has not yet been identified. One plausible site is neutron star mergers (NSMs), but from perspective of the Galactic chemical evolution, it has been pointed out that NSMs cannot reproduce…
While it is now known that double neutron star binary systems (DNSs) are copious producers of heavy elements, there remains much speculation about whether they are the sole or even principal site of rapid neutron-capture (r-process)…
Neutron star mergers (NSMs) are promising astrophysical sites for the rapid neutron-capture ("$r$-") process, but can their integrated yields explain the majority of heavy-element material in the Galaxy? One method to address this question…
We study the formation of stars with varying amounts of heavy elements synthesized by the rapid neutron-capture process ($r$-process) based on our detailed cosmological zoom-in simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy with an $N$-body/smoothed…
We investigate the chemical enrichment of r-process elements in the early evolutionary stages of the Milky Way halo within the framework of hierarchical galaxy formation using a semi-analytic merger tree. In this paper, we focus on heavy…
I show that recent observations of r-process abundances in metal-poor stars are difficult to explain if neutron star mergers (NSMs) are the major r-process sources. In contrast, such observations and meteoritic data on Hf182 and I129 in the…
The heaviest elements in the Universe are synthesized through rapid neutron capture ($r$-process) in extremely neutron rich outflows. Neutron star mergers were established as an important $r$-process source through the multi-messenger…
Observations of GW170817 strongly suggest that binary neutron star (BNS) mergers produce rapid neutron-capture nucleosynthesis (r-process) elements. However, it remains an open question whether these mergers can account for all the…
Metal-poor stars in the Milky Way (MW) halo display large star-to-star dispersion in their r-process abundance relative to lighter elements. This suggests a chemically diverse and unmixed interstellar medium (ISM) in the early Universe.…
The rapid neutron-capture process (r-process) is a major process to synthesize elements heavier than iron, but the astrophysical site(s) of r-process is not identified yet. Neutron star mergers (NSMs) are suggested to be a major r-process…
One of the open questions following the discovery of GW170817 is whether neutron star mergers are the only astrophysical sites capable of producing $r$-process elements. Simulations have shown that 0.01-0.1M$_\odot$ of $r$-process material…
Star-to-star dispersion of r-process elements has been observed in a significant number of old, metal-poor globular clusters. We investigate early-time neutron-star mergers as the mechanism for this enrichment. Through both numerical…
Some of the heavy elements, such as gold and europium (Eu), are almost exclusively formed by the rapid neutron capture process (r-process). However, it is still unclear which astrophysical site between core-collapse supernovae and neutron…
Mergers of compact binaries (of a neutron star and another neutron star or a black hole, NSMs) are suggested to be the promising astrophysical site of the r-process. While the average coalescence timescale of NSMs appears to be > 100 Myr,…
The discovery of the radioactively powered kilonova AT2017gfo, associated with the short-duration gamma-ray burst GRB 170817A and the gravitational wave source GW170817, has provided the first direct evidence supporting binary neutron star…
There has been significant progress in the understanding of the r-process over the last ten years. The conditions required for this process have been examined in terms of the parameters for adiabatic expansion from high temperature and…