The impact of turbulent mixing on the galactic r-process enrichment by binary neutron star mergers

Irina Dvorkin; Frédéric Daigne; Stephane Goriely; Elisabeth Vangioni; Joseph Silk

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab2003

The impact of turbulent mixing on the galactic r-process enrichment by binary neutron star mergers

Irina Dvorkin
, Frédéric Daigne
, Stephane Goriely
, Elisabeth Vangioni
, Joseph Silk

École Polytechnique

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We study the enrichment of the interstellar medium (ISM) with rapid neutron capture (r-process) elements produced in binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. We use a semi-analytic model to describe galactic evolution, with merger rates and time delay distributions of BNS mergers consistent with the latest population synthesis models. In order to study the dispersion of the relative abundances of r-process elements and iron, we applied a turbulent mixing scheme, where the freshly synthesized elements are gradually dispersed in the ISM. We show that within our model the abundances observed in Milky Way stars, in particular the scatter at low metallicities, can be entirely explained by BNS mergers. Our results suggest that BNS mergers could be the dominant source of r-process elements in the Galaxy.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	4374-4388
Number of pages	15
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	506
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab2003
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2021

Keywords

gravitational waves
stars: neutron

Access to Document

10.1093/mnras/stab2003

Cite this

@article{c58a389f253f4d3ab5c5dc18f8f60004,

title = "The impact of turbulent mixing on the galactic r-process enrichment by binary neutron star mergers",

abstract = "We study the enrichment of the interstellar medium (ISM) with rapid neutron capture (r-process) elements produced in binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. We use a semi-analytic model to describe galactic evolution, with merger rates and time delay distributions of BNS mergers consistent with the latest population synthesis models. In order to study the dispersion of the relative abundances of r-process elements and iron, we applied a turbulent mixing scheme, where the freshly synthesized elements are gradually dispersed in the ISM. We show that within our model the abundances observed in Milky Way stars, in particular the scatter at low metallicities, can be entirely explained by BNS mergers. Our results suggest that BNS mergers could be the dominant source of r-process elements in the Galaxy.",

keywords = "gravitational waves, stars: neutron",

author = "Irina Dvorkin and Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric Daigne and Stephane Goriely and Elisabeth Vangioni and Joseph Silk",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.",

year = "2021",

month = sep,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1093/mnras/stab2003",

language = "English",

volume = "506",

pages = "4374--4388",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

issn = "0035-8711",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The impact of turbulent mixing on the galactic r-process enrichment by binary neutron star mergers

AU - Dvorkin, Irina

AU - Daigne, Frédéric

AU - Goriely, Stephane

AU - Vangioni, Elisabeth

AU - Silk, Joseph

PY - 2021/9/1

Y1 - 2021/9/1

N2 - We study the enrichment of the interstellar medium (ISM) with rapid neutron capture (r-process) elements produced in binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. We use a semi-analytic model to describe galactic evolution, with merger rates and time delay distributions of BNS mergers consistent with the latest population synthesis models. In order to study the dispersion of the relative abundances of r-process elements and iron, we applied a turbulent mixing scheme, where the freshly synthesized elements are gradually dispersed in the ISM. We show that within our model the abundances observed in Milky Way stars, in particular the scatter at low metallicities, can be entirely explained by BNS mergers. Our results suggest that BNS mergers could be the dominant source of r-process elements in the Galaxy.

AB - We study the enrichment of the interstellar medium (ISM) with rapid neutron capture (r-process) elements produced in binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. We use a semi-analytic model to describe galactic evolution, with merger rates and time delay distributions of BNS mergers consistent with the latest population synthesis models. In order to study the dispersion of the relative abundances of r-process elements and iron, we applied a turbulent mixing scheme, where the freshly synthesized elements are gradually dispersed in the ISM. We show that within our model the abundances observed in Milky Way stars, in particular the scatter at low metallicities, can be entirely explained by BNS mergers. Our results suggest that BNS mergers could be the dominant source of r-process elements in the Galaxy.

KW - gravitational waves

KW - stars: neutron

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85119138206

U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stab2003

DO - 10.1093/mnras/stab2003

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85119138206

SN - 0035-8711

VL - 506

SP - 4374

EP - 4388

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 3

ER -

The impact of turbulent mixing on the galactic r-process enrichment by binary neutron star mergers

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this