Nucleosynthesis in the ejecta of neutron star mergers

We present, for the first time, the result of nucleosynthesis calculations based on the fully general-relativistic simulation of a NS-NS merger with approximate neutrino transport taken into account. It is found that the bulk of the dynamical ejecta are appreciably shock-heated and neutrino-processed, resulting in a wide range of electron fraction, Ye ∼ 0.1-0.4. The mass-averaged abundance distribution of calculated nucleosynthesis yields is in remarkable agreement with the full-mass range (A ≈ 90-240) of the solar r-process curve. This implies, if our model is representative of such events, that the dynamical ejecta of NS-NS mergers can be the origin of the Galactic r-process nuclei.