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We present 3D radiative transfer calculations for the ejecta from a neutron star merger that include line-by-line opacities for tens of millions of bound–bound transitions, composition from an r -process nuclear network, and time-dependent thermalization of decay products from individual α and β ^− decay reactions. In contrast to expansion opacities and other wavelength-binned treatments, a line-by-line treatment enables us to include fluorescence effects and associate spectral features with the emitting and absorbing lines of individual elements. We find variations in the synthetic observables with both the polar and azimuthal viewing angles. The spectra exhibit blended features with strong interactions by Ce iii , Sr ii , Y ii , and Zr ii that vary with time and viewing direction. We demonstrate the importance of wavelength calibration of atomic data using a model with calibrated Sr, Y, and Zr data, and find major differences in the resulting spectra, including a better agreement with AT2017gfo. The synthetic spectra for a near-polar inclination show a feature at around 8000 Å, similar to AT2017gfo. However, they evolve on a more rapid timescale, likely due to the low ejecta mass (0.005 M _☉ ) as we take into account only the early ejecta. The comparatively featureless spectra for equatorial observers gives a tentative prediction that future observations of edge-on kilonovae will appear substantially different from AT2017gfo. We also show that 1D models obtained by spherically averaging the 3D ejecta lead to dramatically different direction-integrated luminosities and spectra compared to full 3D calculations.

We investigate the nucleosynthesis and kilonova properties of binary neutron star (NS) merger models that lead to intermediate remnant lifetimes of ∼0.1–1 s until black hole (BH) formation and describe all components of the material ejected during the dynamical merger phase, NS remnant evolution, and final viscous disintegration of the BH torus after gravitational collapse. To this end, we employ a combination of hydrodynamics, nucleosynthesis, and radiative transfer tools to achieve a consistent end-to-end modeling of the system and its observables. We adopt a novel version of the Shakura–Sunyaev scheme allowing the approximate turbulent viscosity inside the NS remnant to vary independently of the surrounding disk. We find that asymmetric progenitors lead to shorter remnant lifetimes and enhanced ejecta masses, although the viscosity affects the absolute values of these characteristics. The integrated production of lanthanides and heavier elements in such binary systems is subsolar, suggesting that the considered scenarios contribute in a subdominant fashion to r -process enrichment. One reason is that BH tori formed after delayed collapse exhibit less neutron-rich conditions than typically found, and often assumed in previous BH torus models, for early BH formation. The outflows in our models feature strong anisotropy as a result of the lanthanide-poor polar neutrino-driven wind pushing aside lanthanide-rich dynamical ejecta. Considering the complexity of the models, the estimated kilonova light curves show promising agreement with AT 2017gfo after times of several days, while the remaining inconsistencies at early times could possibly be overcome in binary configurations with a more dominant neutrino-driven wind relative to the dynamical ejecta.

We investigate systematically the dynamical mass ejection, r-process nucleosynthesis, and properties of electromagnetic counterparts of neutron-star (NS) mergers in dependence on the uncertain properties of the nuclear equation of state (EOS) by employing 40 representative, microphysical high-density EOSs in relativistic, hydrodynamical simulations. The crucial parameter determining the ejecta mass is the radius R1.35 of a 1.35M☉ NS. NSs with smaller R1.35 ("soft" EOS) eject systematically higher masses. These range from ~10-3M☉ to ~10-2M☉ for 1.35-1.35M☉ binaries and from ~5 × 10-3M☉ to ~2 × 10-2M☉ for 1.2-1.5 M☉ systems (with kinetic energies between ~5 × 1049 erg and 1051 erg). Correspondingly, the bolometric peak luminosities of the optical transients of symmetric (asymmetric) mergers vary between 3 × 1041 erg s-1 and 14 × 1041 erg s-1 (9 × 1041 erg s-1 and 14.5×1041 erg s-1) on timescales between ~2 hr and ~12 hr. If these signals with absolute bolometric magnitudes from -15.0 to -16.7 are measured, the tight correlation of their properties with those of the merging NSs might provide valuable constraints on the high-density EOS. The r-process nucleosynthesis exhibits a remarkable robustness independent of the EOS, producing a nearly solar abundance pattern above mass number 130. By the r-process content of the Galaxy and the average production per event the Galactic merger rate is limited to 4 × 10-5 yr-1 (4×10-4 yr-1) for a soft (stiff) NS EOS, if NS mergers are the main source of heavy r-nuclei. The production ratio of radioactive 232Th to 238U attains a stable value of 1.64-1.67, which does not exclude NS mergers as potential sources of heavy r-material in the most metal-poor stars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 γ rays. The very red color of the associated kilonova suggests that neutron star mergers are an important r-process site. Astrophysical simulations of neutron star mergers and core collapse supernovae are making rapid progress. Detection of both electron neutrinos and antineutrinos from the next galactic supernova will constrain the composition of neutrino-driven winds and provide unique nucleosynthesis information. Finally, FRIB and other rare-isotope beam facilities will soon have dramatic new capabilities to synthesize many neutron-rich nuclei that are involved in the r-process. The new capabilities can significantly improve our understanding of the r-process and likely resolve one of the main outstanding problems in classical nuclear astrophysics. However, to make best use of the new experimental capabilities and to fully interpret the results, a great deal of infrastructure is needed in many related areas of astronomy, astrophysics, and nuclear theory. We place these experiments in context by discussing astrophysical simulations and observations of r-process sites, observations of stellar abundances, galactic chemical evolution, and nuclear theory for the structure and reactions of very neutron-rich nuclei. This review paper was initiated at a three-week International Collaborations in Nuclear Theory program in June 2016, where we explored promising r-process experiments and discussed their likely impact, and their astronomical, astrophysical, and nuclear theory context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an effective, low-dimensionality frequency-domain template for the gravitational wave (GW) signal from the stellar remnants from binary neutron star (BNS) coalescence. A principal component decomposition of a suite of numerical simulations of BNS mergers is used to construct orthogonal basis functions for the amplitude and phase spectra of the waveforms for a variety of neutron star (NS) equations of state and binary mass configurations. We review the phenomenology of late merger/post-merger GW emission in BNS coalescence and demonstrate how an understanding of the dynamics during and after the merger leads to the construction of a universal spectrum. We also provide a discussion of the prospects for detecting the post-merger signal in future GW detectors as a potential contribution to the science case for third generation instruments. The template derived in our analysis achieves match across a wide variety of merger waveforms and strain sensitivity spectra for current and potential GW detectors. Using a simple Monte Carlo simulation, we find a preliminary estimate of the typical uncertainty in the determination of the dominant post-merger oscillation frequency of . Using recently derived correlations between and the NS radii, this suggests potential constraints on the radius of a fiducial NS of ∼429 m. Such measurements would only be possible for nearby (∼30 Mpc) sources with advanced LIGO but become more feasible for planned upgrades to advanced LIGO and other future instruments, leading to constraints on the high density NS equation of state which are independent and complementary to those inferred from the pre-merger inspiral GW signal. We study the ability of a selection of future GW instruments to provide constraints on the NS equation of state via the postmerger phase of BNS mergers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]