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Neutrinos transport energy, drive outflows, and determine the ratio of electrons to protons in the ejecta from neutron star mergers that enriches the surrounding universe with heavy elements. Only electron flavor neutrinos and antineutrinos modify the composition of the ejecta and thus directly affect the synthesis of heavy elements. Instabilities that cause rapid mixing of neutrino flavor are likely ubiquitous in mergers, but are poorly understood and are absent from global simulations. I will present the first (local) simulations of this instability using the new open-source particle-in-cell neutrino quantum kinetics code Emu. I will demonstrate that the growth phase of the instability matches theoretical predictions, describe abundances of each neutrino species after the instability saturates, and discuss the implications for nucleosynthesis in neutron star mergers.
Sherwood received his Bachelor from University of Virginia and Ph. D in physics from California Institute of Technology. After that, he became an N3AS postdoctoral fellowship jointly at North Carolina State University and University of California Berkeley. He is now an NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley. His current research focuses on studying the role of neutrino transport in the central engines that drive core-collapse supernova explosions and gamma-ray bursts.
Zoom link: https://zoom.com.cn/j/62749625491 code (822612)