Neutron rich matter in the laboratory and in the heavens after GW170817

Understand

The historic observations of the neutron star merger GW170817 advanced our understanding of r-process nucleosynthesis and the equation of state (EOS) of neutron rich matter.

• Simple neutrino physics suggests that supernovae are not the site of the main r-process.
• Instead, the very red color of the kilonova associated with GW170817 shows that neutron star (NS) mergers are an important r-process site.
• We now need to measure the masses and beta decay half-lives of very neutron rich heavy nuclei so that we can more accurately predict the abundances of heavy elements that are produced.