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Title: Signatures of hypermassive neutron star lifetimes on r-process nucleosynthesis in the disc ejecta from neutron star mergers

Journal Article · · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [4];  [6]
  1. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB (Canada); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
  4. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Columbia Astrophysics Lab.
  5. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  6. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States); Kyoto Univ. (Japan)

We investigate the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements in the winds ejected by accretion discs formed in neutron star mergers. We compute the element formation in disc outflows from hypermassive neutron star (HMNS) remnants of variable lifetime, including the effect of angular momentum transport in the disc evolution. We employ long-term axisymmetric hydrodynamic disc simulations to model the ejecta, and compute r-process nucleosynthesis with tracer particles using a nuclear reaction network containing ~8000 species. We find that the previously known strong correlation between HMNS lifetime, ejected mass and average electron fraction in the outflow is directly related to the amount of neutrino irradiation on the disc, which dominates mass ejection at early times in the form of a neutrino-driven wind. Production of lanthanides and actinides saturates at short HMNS lifetimes (≲10 ms), with additional ejecta contributing to a blue optical kilonova component for longer-lived HMNSs. We find good agreement between the abundances from the disc outflow alone and the solar r-process distribution only for short HMNS lifetimes (≲10 ms). For longer lifetimes, the rare-earth and third r-process peaks are significantly underproduced compared to the solar pattern, requiring additional contributions from the dynamical ejecta. The nucleosynthesis signature from a spinning black hole (BH) can only overlap with that from an HMNS of moderate lifetime (≲60 ms). Finally, we show that angular momentum transport not only contributes with a late-time outflow component, but that it also enhances the neutrino-driven component by moving material to shallower regions of the gravitational potential, in addition to providing additional heating.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
OSTI ID:
1526485
Journal Information:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 472; ISSN 0035-8711
Publisher:
Royal Astronomical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Modeling GW170817 based on numerical relativity and its implications journal December 2017
A Magnetar Origin for the Kilonova Ejecta in GW170817 journal March 2018
Viscous-dynamical Ejecta from Binary Neutron Star Mergers journal December 2018
From the microscopic to the macroscopic world: from nucleons to neutron stars journal August 2019
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Neutron star binary orbits in their host potential: effect on early r-process enrichment journal September 2019
r-Process enrichment in the Galactic halo characterized by nucleosynthesis variation in the ejecta of coalescing neutron star binaries text January 2019
The Origin of r -process Elements in the Milky Way journal March 2018
Neutron-star Radius Constraints from GW170817 and Future Detections journal November 2017
The COMBS survey – I. Chemical origins of metal-poor stars in the Galactic bulge journal July 2019
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The Lanthanide Fraction Distribution in Metal-poor Stars: A Test of Neutron Star Mergers as the Dominant r -process Site journal August 2019
Viscous-Dynamical Ejecta from Binary Neutron Star Merger text January 2018
Full transport model of GW170817-like disk produces a blue kilonova journal July 2019
Imprints of r-process heating on fall-back accretion: distinguishing black hole–neutron star from double neutron star mergers journal March 2019
Radiative Transfer Simulation for the Optical and Near-infrared Electromagnetic Counterparts to GW170817 journal September 2018
Long-lived Remnants from Binary Neutron Star Mergers text January 2018
The Multi-messenger Matrix: The Future of Neutron Star Merger Constraints on the Nuclear Equation of State journal July 2019
Can Kilonova Light Curves Be Standardized? journal November 2019
Neutron star binary orbits in their host potential: effect on early r-process enrichment text January 2019
Probing the Production of Actinides under Different r-process Conditions journal July 2019
The R -Process Alliance: First Release from the Northern Search for r -process-enhanced Metal-poor Stars in the Galactic Halo journal November 2018
AT2017gfo: an anisotropic and three-component kilonova counterpart of GW170817 text January 2017
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The r -process Pattern of a Bright, Highly r -process-enhanced Metal-poor Halo Star at [Fe/H] ∼ −2 journal February 2018
GW170817 --the first observed neutron star merger and its kilonova: Implications for the astrophysical site of the r-process journal November 2019
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Physical Conditions for the r -process. I. Radioactive Energy Sources of Kilonovae journal November 2018
Binary Neutron Star Mergers: Mass Ejection, Electromagnetic Counterparts, and Nucleosynthesis journal December 2018

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