Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics

Modeling kilonovae and r-process nucleosynthesis in neutron star mergers: the role of numerical simulations

Francois Foucart, UNH-Durham, USA — June 28, 2021

The observation of neutron star-neutron star and black hole-neutron star mergers through gravitational waves and electromagnetic signals allows us to study the properties of compact objects, the equation of state of dense matter, general relativity, nucleosynthesis, and cosmology. To fully leverage these observations, reliable models of the observable properties of neutron star mergers are required. An important step in that process is the simulation of merger events through general relativistic numerical simulations. I propose to discuss what simulations have told us about these events so far, what their current blind spots and limitations are.