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As LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA enters its fourth observing run, a new opportunity to
search for electromagnetic counterparts of compact object mergers will also
begin. The light curves and spectra from the first "kilonova" associated with a
binary neutron star binary (NSM) suggests that these sites are hosts of the
rapid neutron capture ("$r$") process. However, it is unknown just how robust
elemental production can be in mergers. Identifying signposts of the production
of particular nuclei is critical for fully understanding merger-driven
heavy-element synthesis. In this study, we investigate the properties of very
neutron rich nuclei for which superheavy elements ($Z\geq 104$) can be produced
in NSMs and whether they can similarly imprint a unique signature on kilonova
light-curve evolution. A superheavy-element signature in kilonovae represents a
route to establishing a lower limit on heavy-element production in NSMs as well
as possibly being the first evidence of superheavy element synthesis in nature.
Favorable NSMs conditions yield a mass fraction of superheavy elements is
$X_{Z\geq 104}\approx 3\times 10^{-2}$ at 7.5 hours post-merger. With this mass
fraction of superheavy elements, we find that the component of kilonova light
curves possibly containing superheavy elements may appear similar to those
arising from lanthanide-poor ejecta. Therefore, photometric characterizations
of superheavy-element rich kilonova may possibly misidentify them as
lanthanide-poor events.
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