Implementation of Monte-Carlo transport in the general relativistic SpEC code

Understand

Neutrino transport and neutrino-matter interactions are known to play an important role in the evolution of neutron star mergers, and of their post-merger remnants.

• Neutrinos cool remnants, drive post-merger winds, and deposit energy in the low-density polar regions where relativistic jets may eventually form.
• Neutrinos also modify the composition of the ejected material, impacting the outcome of nucleosynthesis in merger outflows and the properties of the optical/infrared transients that they power (kilonovae).
• So far, merger simulations have largely relied on approximate treatments of the neutrinos (leakage, moments) that simplify the equations of radiation transport in a way that makes simulations more affordable, but also introduces unquantifiable errors in the results.