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SUMMARY:The Cosmic Origin of Heavy Elements: From Neutron Star Mergers to 
 Collapsing White Dwarfs
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260914T130000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260914T150000Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260805T195100Z
UID:indico-event-989@indico.gssi.it
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Tetyana Pitik (University of California\, Berkeley)\
 n\nHalf of the nuclei heavier than iron are thought to be synthesized thro
 ugh rapid neutron-capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis in some of the most 
 extreme environments in the Universe. The discovery of a kilonova accompan
 ying the gravitational-wave event GW170817 provided the first direct confi
 rmation that neutron-star mergers are a site of r-process nucleosynthesis.
  Yet despite the recognition of neutron-star mergers as a key source of r-
 process material\, the astrophysical origin of the heaviest elements remai
 ns far from settled\, with growing indications that an important piece of 
 the puzzle is still missing.In this seminar I will review our current unde
 rstanding of heavy-element production in explosive astrophysical environme
 nts\, focusing on the physical conditions required for r-process nucleosyn
 thesis and the observational clues that constrain its origin. I will then 
 present recent results identifying accretion-induced collapse (AIC) of whi
 te dwarfs as a promising source of heavy nuclei. Using multidimensional ge
 neral-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations coupled with nucleosynt
 hesis and radiative-transfer calculations\, we find that rapidly rotating\
 , strongly magnetized AIC events can eject neutron-rich matter capable of 
 producing heavy r-process nuclei while powering kilonova emission observab
 le at extragalactic distances. I will discuss the implications of these re
 sults for the origin of heavy elements\, kilonova observations\, and the r
 ole of white-dwarf collapse in multimessenger astronomy.\n\nhttps://indico
 .gssi.it/event/989/
LOCATION:P2.6 (GSSI)
URL:https://indico.gssi.it/event/989/
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