Magnetic field effects on nucleosynthesis and kilonovae from neutron star merger remnants

Abstract

ABSTRACT We investigate the influence of parametric magnetic field configurations of a hypermassive neutron star (HMNS) on the outflow properties, nucleosynthesis yields, and kilonova light curves. We perform three-dimensional dynamical space–time general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations, including a neutrino leakage scheme, microphysical finite-temperature equation of state, and an initial poloidal magnetic field. We find that varying the magnetic field strength and falloff impacts the formation of magnetized winds or mildly relativistic jetted outflows, which in turn has profound effects on the outflow properties. All of the evolved configurations collapse to a black hole ∼38–40 ms after coalescence, where the ones forming jetted outflows seem more effective at redistributing angular momentum, which result in earlier collapse times. Larger mass ejecta rates and radial velocities of unbound material characterize the systems that form jetted outflows. The bolometric light curves of the kilonovae and r-process yields that are produced by the post-merger remnant system change considerably with different magnetic field parameters. We conclude that the magnetic field strength and falloff have robust effects on the outflow properties and electromagnetic observables. This can be particularly important as the total ejecta mass from our simulations (≃10−3 M⊙) makes the ejecta from HMNS a compelling source to power kilonova through radioactive decay of r-process elements.