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Program description:
Last year history was made with the first discovery of a binary neutron star merger event by LIGO/Virgo, GW170817. The merger was subsequently studied in over seventy ground- and space-based observatories, at wavelengths across the electromagnetic spectrum. Observations in the visible and infrared are most convincingly interpreted as an r-process kilonova: an electromagnetic counterpart to the merger event powered by the radioactive decay of some hundredths of a solar mass of newly-produced heavy nuclei. Here we will discuss the astrophysical and nuclear physics uncertainties in the interpretation of the GW170817 kilonova, what we can learn about the astrophysical site or sites of the r process from this event, and the advances in nuclear experiment and theory most crucial to pursue in light of the new data.
Program organizers:
Rebecca Surman (University of Notre Dame)
Gail McLaughlin (North Carolina State University)
Ani Aprahamian (University of Notre Dame)
Anna Frebel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Location and time:
FRIB, East Lansing, MI, July 16-27, 2018.
The event is organized by NSCL/FRIB at MSU
To apply: Please complete an application form.
We acknowledge support from the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB).