Lecturer: Tsvi Piran, The Hebrew University
Abstract:
The origin of the heaviest neutron rich elements has been a long standing puzzle. The
nucleosynthesis of these elements requires a neutron rich environment to enable the so
called rapid capture (r-) process. For years it was believed that these elements are
synthesized in supernovae. However in recent years evidence accumulated in favor of the
binary neutron star mergers as the dominant r-process sites. This was dramatically
confirmed with the recent observations of such an event on Auguest 17th 2017. I will review
the theory and observations that have led to the recent understanding.