Speaker
Description
The rapid neutron capture (r-process) is one of the main mechanisms whereby elements heavier than iron are synthesized, and is responsible for the creation of the heaviest stable isotopes of the actinides. Kilonova emissions are modeled as being largely powered by the radioactive decay of species synthesized via the r-process and in principle, observations of these offer insight into nucleosynthetic processes that occur in the merger. Given that the r-process occurs far from nuclear stability, nucleosynthesis calculations are subject to large uncertainties from unmeasured quantities. We investigate these uncertainties by incorporating a variety of different theoretical nuclear physics inputs, including mass models, decay rates, and fission yields, into nucleosynthesis calculations. We show the range of uncertainty these can generate and show the impact on nuclear heating, light curve evolution and nuclear cosmochronometry.