Oral Presentation

Nucleosynthesis and kilonovae from neutron star mergers

Author(s):

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

The mergers of binary neutron stars or one neutron star with one black hole are expected to be the main sources of gravitational waves and the progenitors powering the short gamma-ray bursts. In addition to these, large amount of neutron-rich matter can be ejected from such events and this allows the formation of heavy nuclei. The decay of these unstable nuclei can power the electromagnetic transients called kilonovae or macronovae. I will discuss several uncertain key issues in modeling such events, including some of our recent efforts from the point of view of nuclear physics and neutrino physics.