Understanding kilonovae with radiative transfer simulations

by Christine Collins

Wednesday 9 Apr 2025, 16:00 → 18:00 Europe/Berlin

Abbeanum/1-HS2 - Straubel-HS (TPI, FSU Jena)

Kilonova observations offer the opportunity to obtain constraints on heavy-element r-process nucleosynthesis. The detection of the kilonova AT2017gfo has provided us with a wealth of observations, however, interpreting what these observations tell us about the underlying physics requires detailed modelling. 
I will discuss recent kilonova radiative transfer simulations that are based on hydrodynamical models of neutron star mergers, with detailed r-process nuclear network calculations. The simulated spectra in the polar directions show a remarkably similar evolution to the observations of AT2017gfo. Using these simulations, I will show the importance of accurate atomic data for kilonova modelling, as well as the importance of 3D simulations. By improving radiative transfer simulations and by extending our study to consider a broader range of kilonova models, simulations will be able to connect observations to the underlying merger physics, and place constraints on r-process nucleosynthesis.