Related papers: Improved lanthanide constraints for the kilonova A…
Kilonovae are a novel class of astrophysical transients, and the only observationally-confirmed site of rapid neutron capture nucleosynthesis (the r-process) in the Universe. To date, only a handful of kilonovae have been detected, with…
The kilonova emission observed following the binary neutron star merger event GW170817 provided the first direct evidence for the synthesis of heavy nuclei through the r-process. The late-time transition in the spectral energy distribution…
Binary neutron star (NS) mergers have been expected to synthesize r-process elements and emit radioactively powered radiation, called kilonova. Although r-process nucleosynthesis was confirmed by the observations of GW170817/AT2017gfo, no…
The observations of GW170817/AT2017gfo have provided us with evidence that binary neutron star mergers are sites of $r$-process nucleosynthesis. However, the observed signatures in the spectra of GW170817/AT2017gfo have not been fully…
The early spectra of the kilonova (KN) AT2017gfo following the binary neutron star merger GW170817 exhibit numerous features shaped by r-process nucleosynthesis products. Although a few species were tentatively detected, no third-peak…
Kilonovae are key to advancing our understanding of r-process nucleosynthesis. To date, only two kilonovae have been spectroscopically observed, AT 2017gfo and AT 2023vfi. Here, we present an analysis of the James Webb Space Telescope…
The kilonova (KN) associated with the binary neutron star (BNS) merger GW170817 is the only known electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave source. Here we produce a sequence of radiative transfer models (using $\textsc{tardis}$)…
Multimessenger observations of the neutron star merger GW170817 and its kilonova proved that neutron star mergers can synthesize large quantities of r-process elements. If neutron star mergers in fact dominate all r-process element…
The observation of the kilonova AT2017gfo and investigations of its light curves and spectra confirmed that neutron star mergers are sites of r-process nucleosynthesis. However, the identification of elements responsible for the spectral…
Kilonovae are likely a key site of heavy r-process element production in the Universe, and their optical/infrared spectra contain insights into both the properties of the ejecta and the conditions of the r-process. However, the event…
Kilonova spectra provide us with the direct information of r-process nucleosynthesis in neutron star mergers. In this paper, we study the signatures of elements beyond the third r-process peak expected to be produced in neutron-rich ejecta…
In kilonovae, freshly-synthesized $r$-process elements imprint features on optical spectra, as observed in AT2017gfo, the counterpart to the GW170817 binary neutron star merger. However, measuring the $r$-process compositions of the merger…
Context. In recent years, the R-Process Alliance (RPA) has conducted a successful search for stars enhanced in elements produced by the rapid neutron-capture (r-)process. In particular, the RPA has uncovered a number of stars strongly…
The precise atomic structure and therefore the wavelength-dependent opacities of lanthanides are highly uncertain. This uncertainty introduces systematic errors in modeling transients like kilonovae and estimating key properties such as…
Lanthanides play most important roles in the opacities for kilonova, ultraviolet-optical-infrared emission from neutron star mergers. Although several efforts have been made to construct atomic data, the accuracy in the opacity is not fully…
Binary neutron star mergers are the first confirmed site of element nucleosynthesis by the rapid neutron-capture process (r-process). The kilonova AT2017gfo is the only electromagnetic counterpart of a neutron star merger spectroscopically…
A central question regarding neutron star mergers is whether they are able to produce all the r-process elements, from first to third peak. The high abundances of first-peak elements (atomic number $Z \sim 31-40$) in the solar composition…
r-Process nucleosynthesis in material ejected during neutron star mergers may lead to radioactively powered transients called kilonovae. The timescale and peak luminosity of these transients depend on the composition of the ejecta, which…
Even though the electromagnetic counterpart AT2017gfo to the binary neutron star merger GW170817 is powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei, only few tentative identifications of light r-process elements have been made so far.…
Binary neutron star mergers are thought to be one of the dominant sites of production for rapid neutron capture elements, including platinum and gold. Since the discovery of the binary neutron star merger GW170817, and its associated…