Relativistic Atomic Structure of Au IV and the Os Isoelectronic Sequence: opacity data for kilonova ejecta

TL;DR

This paper computes atomic data for heavy elements in the Os-like sequence to improve opacity models crucial for understanding kilonova emissions following neutron star mergers.

Contribution

It provides new relativistic atomic structure calculations for Os-like ions, including energy levels and transition probabilities, aiding astrophysical models of kilonovae.

Findings

Generated line lists and opacities for r-process elements.

Benchmarking against experimental data shows improved accuracy.

Predicted infrared emission lines observable by JWST.

Abstract

Direct detection of gravitational waves (GW) on Aug. 17, 2017, propagating from a binary neutron star merger, opened the era of multimessenger astronomy. The ejected material from neutron star mergers, or kilonova, is a good candidate for optical and near infrared follow-up observations after the detection of GWs. The kilonova from the ejecta of GW1780817 provided the first evidence for the astrophysical site of the synthesis of heavy nuclei through the rapid neutron capture process or rprocess. Since properties of the emission are largely affected by opacities of the ejected material, enhancements in the available, but limited rprocess atomic data have been motivated recently. However, given the complexity of the electronic structure of these heavy elements, considerable efforts are still needed to converge to a reliable set of atomic structure data. The aim of this work is to alleviate this situation for low charge state elements in the Os-like isoelectronic sequence. In this regard, the general purpose relativistic atomic structure packages (GRASP0 and GRASP2K) were used to obtain energy levels and transition probabilities (E1 and M1). We provide line lists and expansion opacities for a range of r-process elements. We focus here on the Os isoelectronic sequence (Os I, Ir II, Pt III, Au IV, Hg V). The results are benchmarked against existing experimental data and prior calculations, and predictions of emission spectra relevant to kilonovae are provided. Finestructure (M1) lines in the infrared potentially observable by the James Webb Space Telescope are highlighted.