Related papers: Improved lanthanide constraints for the kilonova A…
The rapid neutron capture process (r process) is believed to be responsible for about half of the production of the elements heavier than iron and contributes to abundances of some lighter nuclides as well. A universal pattern of r-process…
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…
The cosmic origin of the elements heavier than iron has long been uncertain. Theoretical modelling shows that the matter that is expelled in the violent merger of two neutron stars can assemble into heavy elements such as gold and platinum…
We apply for the first time fission yields determined across the chart of nuclides from the macroscopic-microscopic theory of the Finite Range Liquid Drop Model to simulations of rapid neutron capture ($r$-process) nucleosynthesis. With the…
We present the first effort to aggregate, homogenize, and uniformly model the combined ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared dataset for the electromagnetic counterpart of the binary neutron star merger GW170817. By assembling all of the…
The joint detection of the gravitational wave GW170817, of the short $\gamma$-ray burst GRB170817A and of the kilonova AT2017gfo, generated by the the binary neutron star merger observed on August 17, 2017, is a milestone in multimessenger…
Long-lived radioactive nuclei play an important role as nucleo-cosmochronometers and as cosmic tracers of nucleosynthetic source activity. In particular nuclei in the actinide region like thorium, uranium, and plutonium can testify to the…
Kilonovae are ultraviolet, optical, and infrared transients powered by the radioactive decay of heavy elements following a neutron star merger. Joint observations of kilonovae and gravitational waves can offer key constraints on the source…
In this work, we present a simple interpolation methodology for spectroscopic time series, based on conventional interpolation techniques (random forests) implemented in widely-available libraries. We demonstrate that our existing library…
We investigate the early (t < 1 day) kilonova from the neutron star merger by deriving atomic opacities for all the elements from La to Ra (Z = 57 - 88) ionized to the states V - XI. The opacities at high temperatures for the elements with…
Moderately r-process-enriched stars (r-I) are at least four times as common as those that are greatly enriched in r-process elements (r-II), and the abundances in their atmospheres are important tools for obtaining a better understanding of…
The coalescence of double neutron star (NS-NS) and black hole (BH)-NS binaries are prime sources of gravitational waves (GW) for Advanced LIGO/Virgo and future ground-based detectors. Neutron-rich matter released from such events undergo…
Nebular phase kilonovae (KNe) have significant infra-red (IR) emission thought to be mostly forbidden emission lines from rapid neutron capture (r-process) species in neutron star merger ejecta. Lanthanide elements in particular have…
We present a cadence optimization strategy to unveil a large population of kilonovae using optical imaging alone. These transients are generated during binary neutron star and potentially neutron star-black hole mergers and are…
As part of the ongoing work of the $R$-Process Alliance (RPA), detailed abundance measurements of 29 heavy elements in three metal-poor stars, 2MASS J14592981$-$3852558, 2MASS J19445483$-$4039459, and 2MASS J15211026$-$0607566, are…
The electromagnetic transient following a binary neutron star merger is known as a kilonova (KN). Owing to rapid expansion velocities and small ejecta masses, KNe rapidly transition into the Non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (NLTE)…
This is an exciting time for the study of r-process nucleosynthesis. Recently, a neutron star merger GW170817 was observed in extraordinary detail with gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation from radio to gamma rays. The very red…
The groundbreaking discovery of the optical transient AT2017gfo associated with GW170817 opens a unique opportunity to study the physics of double neutron star (NS) mergers. We argue that the standard interpretation of AT2017gfo as being…
The rapid neutron capture process (r-process) is one of the main mechanisms whereby elements heavier than iron are synthesized, and is entirely responsible for the natural production of the actinides. Kilonova emissions are modeled as being…
The origin of rapid neutron capture (r-process) nuclei remains one of the longest standing mysteries in nuclear astrophysics. Core collapse supernovae (SNe) and neutron star binary mergers are likely r-process sites, but little evidence yet…