Measuring gold and platinum spectra using hollow cathodes for application in neutron star merger studies*

The recent detection of a binary neutron star merger using gravitation waves has opened up the possibility of using spectroscopy to determine the abundances of the very heavy elements believed to be generated via the r-process in such merger events. There is, however, a lack of high quality atomic data for the low charge state heavy elements that are of importance for such studies. Results are presented for gold and platinum line emission from neon-filled hollow cathode lamp spectra collected with a resolving power ~10,000 over a wavelength range from 200-1500nm.  The spectra are compared to previous measurements on the Auburn Compact Toriodal Hybrid experiment and archived hollow cathode measurements.