r-Process Lanthanide Production and Heating Rates in Kilonovae

Understand

r-Process nucleosynthesis in material ejected during neutron star mergers may lead to radioactively powered transients called kilonovae.

• The timescale and peak luminosity of these transients depend on the composition of the ejecta, which determines the local heating rate from nuclear decays and the opacity.
• Kasen et al.
• (2013, ApJ, 774, 25) and Tanaka & Hotokezaka (2013, ApJ, 775, 113) pointed out that lanthanides can drastically increase the opacity in these outflows.