r -process nucleosynthesis and kilonovae from hypermassive neutron star post-merger remnants

• Published in: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol. 518; no. 4; pp. 5313 - 5322
• Main Authors: Curtis, Sanjana, Mösta, Philipp, Wu, Zhenyu, Radice, David, Roberts, Luke, Ricigliano, Giacomo, Perego, Albino
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Oxford University Press 01.02.2023
• Subjects: abundances; ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; magnetohydrodynamics; neutron star mergers; nuclear reactions; nucleosynthesis
• ISSN: 0035-8711; 1365-2966
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac3128

We investigate r-process nucleosynthesis and kilonova emission resulting from binary neutron star (BNS) mergers based on a three-dimensional (3D) general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulation of a hypermassive neutron star (HMNS) remnant. The simulation includes a microphysical finite-temperature equation of state (EOS) and neutrino emission and absorption effects via a leakage scheme. We track the thermodynamic properties of the ejecta using Lagrangian tracer particles and determine its composition using the nuclear reaction network SkyNet. We investigate the impact of neutrinos on the nucleosynthetic yields by varying the neutrino luminosities during post-processing. The ejecta show a broad distribution with respect to their electron fraction Ye, peaking between ∼0.25–0.4 depending on the neutrino luminosity employed. We find that the resulting r-process abundance patterns differ from solar, with no significant production of material beyond the second r-process peak when using luminosities recorded by the tracer particles. We also map the HMNS outflows to the radiation hydrodynamics code SNEC and predict the evolution of the bolometric luminosity as well as broadband light curves of the kilonova. The bolometric light curve peaks on the timescale of a day and the brightest emission is seen in the infrared bands. This is the first direct calculation of the r-process yields and kilonova signal expected from HMNS winds based on 3D GRMHD simulations. For longer-lived remnants, these winds may be the dominant ejecta component producing the kilonova emission.