Radioactive Gamma-Ray Lines from Long-lived Neutron Star Merger Remnants

Abstract

The observation of a kilonova AT2017gfo associated with the gravitational wave event GW170817 provides the first strong evidence that neutron star mergers are dominant contributors to the production of heavy r -process elements. Radioactive gamma-ray lines emitted from neutron star merger remnants provide a unique probe for investigating the nuclide composition and tracking its evolution. In this work, we studied the gamma-ray line features arising from the radioactive decay of heavy nuclei in the merger remnants based on the r -process nuclear reaction network and the astrophysical inputs derived from numerical relativity simulations. The decay chain of ${}_{50}^{126}$ Sn ( T _1/2 = 230 kyr) → ${}_{51}^{126}$ Sb ( T _1/2 = 12.35 days) → ${}_{52}^{126}$ Te (stable) produces several bright gamma-ray lines with energies of 415, 667, and 695 keV, making it the most promising decay chain during the remnant phase. The photon fluxes of these bright gamma-ray lines reach ∼10 ^−5 γ cm ^−2 s ^−1 for Galactic merger remnants with ages less than 100 kyr, which can be detected by the high energy resolution MeV gamma-ray detectors like the MASS mission.

Keywords

• Gamma-ray lines
• R-process