Outflows from neutron star merger remnant disks: nucleosynthesis and kilonovae

ORAL

Abstract

The accretion disk formed in a neutron star merger can drive powerful winds on timescales of 100ms to seconds after coalescence. The wind material is more strongly irradiated by neutrinos than the dynamical ejecta, and hence has a less neutron-rich composition, with implications for $r$-process element synthesis and the radioactively-powered kilonova transient. This talk will present preliminary results from projects aimed at quantifying (1) the nucleosynthesis yield from disks around hypermassive neutron stars, (2) the effect of MHD turbulence on mass ejection when a black hole sits at the center, and (3) the interaction between disk wind and dynamical ejecta when the relative masses of these components vary.

Authors

  • Rodrigo Fernandez

    University of California, Berkeley

  • Jonas Lippuner

    California Institute of Technology, Caltech

  • Luke Roberts

    California Institute of Technology

  • Alexander Tchekhovskoy

    University of California, Berkeley

  • Francois Foucart

    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  • Brian Metzger

    Columbia University

  • Daniel Kasen

    University of California, Berkeley

  • Eliot Quataert

    University of California, Berkeley