Paper detail

Gamma-ray Diagnostics of r-process Nucleosynthesis in the Remnants of Galactic Binary Neutron-Star Mergers

We perform a full nuclear-network numerical calculation of the $r$-process nuclei in binary neutron-star mergers (NSMs), with the aim of estimating $γ$-ray emissions from the remnants of Galactic NSMs up to $10^6$ years old. The nucleosynthesis calculation of 4,070 nuclei is adopted to provide the elemental composition ratios of nuclei with an electron fraction $Y_{\rm e}$ between 0.10 and 0.45 . The decay processes of 3,237 unstable nuclei are simulated to extract the $γ$-ray spectra. As a result, the NSMs have different spectral color in $γ$-ray band from various other astronomical objects at less than $10^5$ years old. In addition, we propose a new line-diagnostic method for $Y_{\rm e}$ that uses the line ratios of either $^{137{\rm m}}$Ba/$^{85}$K or $^{243}$Am/$^{60{\rm m}}$Co, which become larger than unity for young and old $r$-process sites, respectively, with a low $Y_{\rm e}$ environment. From an estimation of the distance limit for $γ$-ray observations as a function of the age, the high sensitivity in the sub-MeV band, at approximately $10^{-9}$ photons s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ or $10^{-15}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, is required to cover all the NSM remnants in our Galaxy if we assume that the population of NSMs by \citet{2019ApJ...880...23W}. A $γ$-ray survey with sensitivities of $10^{-8}$--$10^{-7}$ photons s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ or $10^{-14}$--$10^{-13}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ in the 70--4000 keV band is expected to find emissions from at least one NSM remnant under the assumption of NSM rate of 30 Myr$^{-1}$. The feasibility of $γ$-ray missions to observe Galactic NSMs are also studied.