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When binary systems of neutron stars merge, a very small fraction of theirrest mass is ejected, either dynamically or secularly. This material isneutron-rich and its nucleosynthesis could provide the astrophysical site forthe production of heavy elements in the universe, together with a kilonovasignal confirming neutron-star mergers as the origin of short gamma-ray bursts.We perform full general-relativistic simulations of binary neutron-star mergersemploying three different nuclear-physics EOSs, considering both equal- andunequal-mass configurations, and adopting a leakage scheme to account forneutrino radiative losses. Using a combination of techniques, we carry out anextensive and systematic study of the hydrodynamical, thermodynamical, andgeometrical properties of the matter ejected dynamically, employing the WinNetnuclear-reaction network to recover the relative abundances of heavy elementsproduced by each configurations. Among the results obtained, three areparticularly important. First, we find that both the properties of thedynamical ejecta and the nucleosynthesis yields are robust against variationsof the EOS and masses, and match very well the observed chemical abundances.Second, using a conservative but robust criterion for unbound matter, we findthat the amount of ejected mass is $\lesssim 10^{-3}\,M_{\odot}$, hence atleast one order of magnitude smaller than what normally assumed in modellingkilonova signals. Finally, using a simplified and gray-opacity model we assessthe observability of the infrared kilonova emission finding, that for allbinaries the luminosity peaks around $\sim1/2$ day in the $H$-band, reaching amaximum magnitude of $-13$, and decreasing rapidly after one day. These ratherlow luminosities make the prospects for detecting kilonovae less promising thanwhat assumed so far.

On r-process nucleosynthesis from matter ejected in binary neutron starmergers