TRANSPORT AND MIXING OF r-PROCESS ELEMENTS IN NEUTRON STAR BINARY MERGER BLAST WAVES

Abstract

ABSTRACT The r-process nuclei are robustly synthesized in the material ejected during neutron star binary mergers (NSBMs). If NSBMs are indeed solely responsible for the solar system r-process abundances, a galaxy like our own would be required to host a few NSBMs per million years, with each event ejecting, on average, about 5 × 10−2 M ⊙ of r-process material. Because the ejecta velocities in the tidal tail are significantly larger than those in ordinary supernovae, NSBMs deposit a comparable amount of energy into the ISM. In contrast to extensive efforts studying spherical models for supernova remnant evolution, calculations quantifying the impact of NSBM ejecta in the ISM have been lacking. To better understand their evolution, we perform a suite of three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of isolated NSBM ejecta expanding in environments with conditions adopted from Milky-Way-like galaxy simulations. Although the remnant morphology is highly complex at early times, the subsequent radiative evolution is remarkably similar to that of a standard supernova. This implies that sub-resolution supernova feedback models can be used in galaxy-scale simulations that are unable to resolve the key evolutionary phases of NSBMs. Among other quantities, we examine the radius, mass, and kinetic energy content of the remnant at shell formation. We find that the shell formation epoch is attained when the swept-up mass is about 103(n H/1 cm−3)−2/7 M ⊙; at this point, the mass fraction of r-process material is enhanced up to two orders of magnitude in relation to a solar metallicity ISM.