Full transport model of GW170817-like disk produces a blue kilonova
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Abstract
The 2017 detection of the inspiral and merger of two neutron stars in gravitational waves and gamma rays was accompanied by a quickly reddening transient. Such a transient was predicted to occur following a rapid neutron capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis event, which synthesizes neutron-rich, radioactive nuclei and can take place in both dynamical ejecta and in the wind driven off the accretion torus formed after a neutron star merger. We present the first three-dimensional general relativistic, full transport neutrino radiation magnetohydrodynamics simulations of the black hole-accretion disk-wind system produced by the GW170817 merger. We show that the small but non-negligible optical depths lead to neutrino transport globally coupling the disk electron fraction, which we capture by solving the transport equation with a Monte Carlo method. The resulting absorption drives up the electron fraction in a structured, continuous outflow, with electron fraction as high as ${Y}_{e}\ensuremath{\sim}0.4$ in the extreme polar region. We show via nuclear reaction network and radiative transfer calculations that nucleosynthesis in the disk wind will produce a blue kilonova.