On August 17, 2017 the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration detected, for the first time, gravitational waves from the binary merger of two neutron stars (GW170817). Unlike the merger of two black holes, the associated electromagnetic radiation was also detected by a host of telescopes operating over a wide range of frequencies -opening a brand new era of multimessenger astronomy. This historical detection is providing fundamental new insights into the astrophysical site for the r-process and on the nature of dense matter. In this contribution, we examine the impact of GW170817 on the equation of state of neutron rich matter, particularly on the density dependence of the symmetry energy. Limits on the tidal polarizability extracted from GW170817 seem to suggest that the symmetry energy is soft, thereby excluding models that predict overly large stellar radii.

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This paper illustrates the principle of the Doppler-shift attenuation method (DSAM) using particle-γ coincidences, a method for determining lifetimes of excited nuclear levels in the range of few femtoseconds up to one picosecond. The coincident detection holds several advantages towards conventional DSAM experiments, such as the elimination of background and feeding transitions. Using the experimental data on 94Zr, the concept of the (p,p’γ) DSAM analysis is presented. Additional experimental results are highlighted.