Merger and Mass Ejection of Neutron Star Binaries

Mergers of binary neutron stars and black hole-neutron star binaries are one of the most promising sources for the ground-based gravitational-wave (GW) detectors and also a high-energy astrophysical phenomenon as illustrated by the observations of gravitational waves and electromagnetic (EM) waves in the event of GW170817. Mergers of these neutron-star binaries are also the most promising site for r-process nucleosynthesis. Numerical simulation in full general relativity (numerical relativity) is a unique approach to the theoretical prediction of the merger process, GWs emitted, mass ejection process, and resulting EM emission. We summarize our current understanding for the processes of neutron star mergers and subsequent mass ejection based on the results of the latest numerical-relativity simulations. We emphasize that the predictions of the numerical-relativity simulations agrees broadly with the optical and infrared observations of GW170817.