The Heavy Element Enrichment History of the Universe from Neutron Star Mergers with Habitable Worlds Observatory

TL;DR

This paper discusses how the Habitable Worlds Observatory can elucidate the history of heavy element formation in the universe by studying neutron star mergers across cosmic time, addressing a key astrophysical mystery.

Contribution

It proposes using the Habitable Worlds Observatory to map the heavy element enrichment history from neutron star mergers over cosmic time.

Findings

Neutron star mergers are confirmed as key sites of heavy element production.

The observatory can trace the timing and yield of these mergers throughout cosmic history.

This approach will help solve the century-old mystery of heavy element origins.

Abstract

Understanding where elements were formed has been a key goal in astrophysics for nearly a century, with answers involving cosmology, stellar burning, and cosmic explosions. Since 1957, the origin of the heaviest elements (formed via the rapid neutron capture process; r-process) has remained a mystery, identified as a key question to answer this century by the US National Research Council. With the advent of gravitational wave astronomy and recent measurements by the James Webb Space Telescope we now know that neutron star mergers are a key site of heavy element nucleosynthesis. We must now understand the heavy element yield of these events as well as mapping when these mergers occurred back through cosmic time, currently thought to peak when the universe was half its current age. This requires an extremely sensitive ultraviolet, optical, and infrared telescope which can respond rapidly to external discoveries of neutron star mergers. We here describe how the Habitable Worlds Observatory can provide the first complete answer to one of the questions of the century.