End-to-end kilonova models of neutron-star mergers with delayed black-hole formation

TL;DR

This study models neutron-star mergers with delayed black-hole formation, analyzing nucleosynthesis, ejecta, and kilonova signals using advanced simulations to understand their contribution to heavy element production.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive end-to-end modeling approach for neutron-star mergers with delayed black-hole formation, incorporating variable viscosity and anisotropic ejecta analysis.

Findings

Asymmetric progenitors shorten remnant lifetimes and increase ejecta mass.

Lanthanide production is sub-solar, indicating a minor role in r-process enrichment.

Kilonova light curves align with AT2017gfo after several days, with early-time discrepancies.

Abstract

We investigate the nucleosynthesis and kilonova properties of binary neutron-star (NS) merger models which lead to intermediate remnant lifetimes of ~0.1-1seconds until black-hole (BH) formation and describe all components of material ejected during the dynamical merger phase, NS-remnant evolution, and final viscous disintegration of the BH torus after gravitational collapse. To this end we employ a combination of hydrodynamics, nucleosynthesis, and radiative-transfer tools to achieve a consistent end-to-end modeling of the system and its observables. We adopt a novel version of the Shakura-Sunyaev scheme allowing to vary the approximate turbulent viscosity inside the NS remnant independently of the surrounding disk. We find that asymmetric progenitors lead to shorter remnant lifetimes and enhanced ejecta masses, although the viscosity affects the absolute values of these characteristics. The integrated production of lanthanides and heavier elements in such binary systems is sub-solar, suggesting that the considered scenarios contribute in a sub-dominant fashion to r-process enrichment. One reason is that BH-tori formed after delayed collapse exhibit less neutron-rich conditions than typically found, and often assumed in previous BH-torus models, for early BH formation. The outflows in our models feature strong anisotropy as a result of the lanthanide-poor polar neutrino-driven wind pushing aside lanthanide-rich dynamical ejecta. Considering the complexity of the models, the estimated kilonova light curves show promising agreement with AT2017gfo after times of several days, while the remaining inconsistencies at early times could possibly be overcome in binary configurations with a more dominant neutrino-driven wind relative to the dynamical ejecta.