Abstract
Abstract
Comparing Galactic chemical evolution models to the observed elemental abundances in the Milky Way, we show that neutron star mergers can be a leading r-process site only if at low metallicities such mergers have very short delay times and significant ejecta masses that are facilitated by the masses of the compact objects. Namely, black hole–neutron star mergers, depending on the black hole spins, can play an important role in the early chemical enrichment of the Milky Way. We also show that none of the binary population synthesis models used in this Letter, i.e., COMPAS, StarTrack, Brussels, ComBinE, and BPASS, can currently reproduce the elemental abundance observations. The predictions are problematic not only for neutron star mergers, but also for Type Ia supernovae, which may point to shortcomings in binary evolution models.
Funder
UKRI ∣ Science and Technology Facilities Council
Leverhulme Trust
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery
Australian Research Council Future Fellowship
Polish National Science Center
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Excellence Strategy through Cluster of Excellence ORIGINS
EC ∣ ERC ∣ HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council
Australian Research Council
Publisher
American Astronomical Society
Subject
Space and Planetary Science,Astronomy and Astrophysics
Cited by
28 articles.
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