Speaker
Description
The electromagnetic transient following a binary neutron star merger is known as a kilonova (KN). KN ejecta evolve rapidly away from Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE) conditions to a regime where the thermodynamic conditions are defined by Non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (NLTE) processes. In this talk, I will present results from the 1D NLTE modelling of KNe using the spectral synthesis code SUMO. Three homogeneous composition models with characteristic electron fractions Y_e ~ 0.35, 0.25, 0.15 are evolved from 5 to 20 days after merger. I will go over which processes and species are key to KN spectral formation during these epochs, and what this implies for current and future efforts to accurately model and understand emergent kilonova spectra.
