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Neutron star mergers are promising sites for heavy element nucleosynthesis. By synthesizing heavy elements, they also emit electromagnetic wave signals, so called "kilonova", in UV, optical, and infrared wavelengths. A kilonova was observed in 2017 following the detection of a gravitational wave event (GW170817), which confirms heavy element nucleosynthesis in the neutron star merger. However, it is still challenging to fully decode the observed signals, such as light curves and spectra, mainly due to lack of atomic data for heavy elements. In this talk, I will introduce our latest efforts toward decoding the kilonova signals and understanding the nucleosynthesis in neutron star mergers.
Colloquium Committee