Binary neutron stars and production of heavy elements

Abstract

We show how merging neutron stars can be responsible for the production of heavy elements in the solar vicinity, in particular we study the evolution of the abundance of europium (Eu) relative to iron (Fe), as derived by stellar abundances measured in the Milky Way halo and disk stars. To do that, we adopt a detailed galactic chemical evolution model able to follow the evolution of the abundances of several chemical elements in the gas in our Galaxy. Merging of neutron stars after emission of gravitational waves has been observed for the first time in the event GW170817, which has represented the very first kilonova ever observed in the local universe. The production of heavy elements such as Eu (a typical r-process element) is discussed critically, pointing out that supernovae core collapse can produce some r-process elements but not enough to explain the solar abundance of Eu. On the other hand, the merging of compact objects can provide an amount of Eu much higher per single event than a single supernova. We discuss the various parameters involved, such as the merging timescales, the fraction of neutron star binaries and the present time rate of kilonova explosions. We compare model results with stellar data and conclude that merging of compact objects can be responsible for the bulk of Eu production in the Galaxy under some assumptions: (i) the merging binaries should have progenitors in the mass range 9–50$$M_{\odot }$$, (ii) the merging timescales should be as short as 1 Myr and iii) each event should produce $$\sim 2 \times 10^{-6}M_{\odot }$$. We also conclude that the Ligo/Virgo merging neutron star rate is consistent with our chemical evolution model and that if GW170817 is a representative event, then the merging neutron stars can be considered as the main r-process production sites.