Fission fragment distributions and their impact on the <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>r</mml:mi></mml:math> -process nucleosynthesis in neutron star mergers

Neutron star merger ejecta are currently the most viable astrophysical site for $r$-process nucleosynthesis. Fission plays a fundamental role. The manuscript presents an updated scission-point model fission fragment distributions, which improves agreement with experimental yields. Two scenarios, based on alternative weak-interaction hypotheses, employed to reanalyze role of fission. Regions nuclear chart where is important identified, and impact yields final abundance distribution elaborated.