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Neutron Star Mergers as r-Process Sources

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Nuclei in the Cosmos XV

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Physics ((SPPHY,volume 219))

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Abstract

The astrophysical origin of the rapid neutron capture elements has been a puzzle since the 1950s. While evidence for a compact binary merger origin has been growing over the last two decades, the final confirmation only came from the recent multi-messenger observation of a merging neutron star binary. The slope of the bolometric electromagnetic luminosity strongly suggests the radioactive decay of freshly synthesized r-process nuclei as power source. The spectral evolution from blue to red indicates that a broad range of r-process nuclei has been produced. Both the ejecta mass and the event rate from this first event are at the upper end of the pre-detection expectations. These number suggest that neutron star mergers are the major r-process source in the cosmos, but additional sources cannot be excluded and may even be welcome from a chemical evolution perspective. With the large number of neutron star detections expected per year for LIGO/VIRGO’s next science run one can be optimistic to soon get answers to questions that have plagued (nuclear) astrophysics for many years.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Data taken from https://kilonova.space.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Astronomy, The Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Stephan Rosswog

Authors
  1. Stephan Rosswog
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Correspondence to Stephan Rosswog .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, L’Aquila, Italy

    Alba Formicola

  2. Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, L’Aquila, Italy

    Matthias Junker

  3. Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Caserta, Italy

    Lucio Gialanella

  4. Dipartimento di Fisica “E. Pancini”, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Napoli, Italy

    Gianluca Imbriani

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Rosswog, S. (2019). Neutron Star Mergers as r-Process Sources. In: Formicola, A., Junker, M., Gialanella, L., Imbriani, G. (eds) Nuclei in the Cosmos XV. Springer Proceedings in Physics, vol 219. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13876-9_17

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