Origin of Heavy Elements: Nucleosynthesis in Neutron Star Mergers and Core Collapse Super Novae
Almudena Arcones (TU Darmstadt)

Our understanding of the origin of heavy elements by the r-process (rapid neutron capture process) has made
great progress in the last years. In addition to the gravitational wave and kilonova observations for GW170817,
there have been major advances in the hydrodynamical simulations of neutron star mergers and core-collapse
supernovae, in the microphysics included in those simulations (neutrinos and high density equation of state), in
galactic chemical evolution models, in observations of old stars in our galaxy and in dwarf galaxies. This talk
will report on recent breakthroughs in understanding the extreme environments in which the formation of the
heavy elements occurs, as well as open questions regarding the astrophysics and nuclear physics involved.