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DOE OSTI · 3367639

A Comparison of Three Neodymium Atomic Data Sets for Kilonova Modeling

Fontes, Christopher John [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Theoretical Astrophysics; McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada)] (ORCID:0000000310872964)·Vieira, Nicholas [McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada); Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000178157604)·Fryer, Chris Lee [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Theoretical Astrophysics; Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Nonlinear Studies; Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States); George Washington Univ., Washington, DC (United States); Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000326240056)·Kathirgamaraju, Adithan [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Theoretical Astrophysics] (ORCID:000000028560692X)·Korobkin, Oleg [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Theoretical Astrophysics] (ORCID:0000000341565342)·Ristić, Marko [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Theoretical Astrophysics] (ORCID:0000000170424472)·Wollaeger, Ryan T. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Theoretical Astrophysics; Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000332654079)
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Abstract

We examine the impact of input neodymium (Nd) atomic data on the light curves and spectra of kilonovae (KNe), probing the sensitivity of kilonova observables to the atomic physics of this important lanthanide element. We use the SuperNu Monte Carlo radiative transfer code, simulating a simple semianalytic 1D kilonova (KN) with a pure Nd atmosphere, fixing the radiative transfer method while using input atomic data generated by three different codes: the LANL suite of atomic physics codes, HULLAC, and Autostructure. We see that the choice of atomic data significantly shapes the resulting light curves and spectra. Peak bolometric luminosities differ by a ratio of nearly 1.5 between HULLAC/Autostructure and LANL data sets. Moreover, we observe significant near- to mid-IR differences in the structure of the spectra. We specifically attribute these differences to the choice of atomic data for neutral Nd I. Many of the results here have been adapted from a presentation at “Radiative Transfer and Atomic Physics of Kilonovae” in Stockholm, 2023. We additionally present a LANL data set with energies calibrated to available values in the NIST Atomic Spectra Database, and demonstrate that this calibration also significantly affects IR spectral structure at late time. The substantial differences in KN observables that arise from tuning the atomic data of just one lanthanide element highlight the special attention that must be paid to atomic physics uncertainties when modeling KNe, from AT2017gfo to beyond.

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71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICSatomic theorykilonovaneutron star merger

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Fontes, Christopher John [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Theoretical Astrophysics; McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada)] (ORCID:0000000310872964), Vieira, Nicholas [McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada); Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000178157604), Fryer, Chris Lee [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Theoretical Astrophysics; Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Nonlinear Studies; Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States); George Washington Univ., Washington, DC (United States); Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000326240056), Kathirgamaraju, Adithan [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Theoretical Astrophysics] (ORCID:000000028560692X), Korobkin, Oleg [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Theoretical Astrophysics] (ORCID:0000000341565342), Ristić, Marko [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Theoretical Astrophysics] (ORCID:0000000170424472), Wollaeger, Ryan T. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Center for Theoretical Astrophysics; Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000332654079). 2026-05-18. A Comparison of Three Neodymium Atomic Data Sets for Kilonova Modeling. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357%2Fae5bfe

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