http://arxiv.org/abs/1403.5872
We examine dust formation in macronovae (as known as kilonovae), which are the bright ejecta of neutron star binary mergers and one of the leading sites of r-process nucleosynthesis. We find that dust grains of r-process elements are difficult to form because of the low number density of the r-process atoms even with their high abundances, while carbon or elements lighter than irons can condense into dust if they are abundant. Dust grains absorb emission from ejecta with opacity even greater than that of the r-process elements, and re-emit photons in infrared bands. Such dust emission can potentially account for the first macronova candidate associated with GRB 130603B, and pose an alternative model without r-process nucleosynthesis in macronovae. This dust scenario predicts a more featureless spectrum than the r-process model and day-scale optical-to-ultraviolet emission.
H. Takami, T. Nozawa and K. Ioka
Tue, 25 Mar 14
35/79
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