Invited Presentation

r-process nucleosynthesis and kilonovae

Author(s):

Presenter: Meng-Ru Wu (Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica)

The first detection of the gravitational wave and accompanying kilonova emission from the merger of two neutron stars, GW170817, strongly suggests that neutron star mergers are the promising astrophysical sites producing elements heavier than iron by the rapid neutron-capture process (r-process). In this talk, I will discuss how different astrophysical conditions and/or unknown theoretical nuclear physics inputs shape the r-process nucleosynthesis outcome and the associated kilonova lightcurves.