Neutron star mergers are the canonical multimessenger events: they have been observed through photons for half a century, gravitational waves since 2017, and are likely to be sources of neutrinos and cosmic rays. Studies of these events enable unique insights into astrophysics, particles in the ultrarelativistic regime, the heavy element enrichment history through cosmic time, cosmology, dense matter, and fundamental physics. Uncovering this science requires vast observational resources, unparalleled coordination, and advancements in theory and simulation, which are constrained by our current understanding of nuclear, atomic, and astroparticle physics. This review begins with a summary of our current knowledge of these events, the expected observational signatures, and estimated detection rates for the next decade. I then present the key observations necessary to advance our understanding of these sources, followed by the broad science this enables. I close with a discussion on the necessary future capabilities to fully utilize these enigmatic sources to understand our universe.

中子星合并是典型的多信使事件：半个世纪以来一直通过光子观测到它们，自 2017 年以来通过引力波观测到它们，并且很可能是中微子和宇宙射线的来源。对这些事件的研究使我们能够对天体物理学、超相对论体系中的粒子、宇宙时间的重元素富集历史、宇宙学、致密物质和基础物理学产生独特的见解。揭示这门科学需要大量的观测资源、无与伦比的协调以及理论和模拟的进步，而这些都受到我们目前对核、原子和天体粒子物理学的理解的限制。这篇综述首先总结了我们目前对这些事件的了解、预期的观察特征以及未来十年的估计检测率。然后，我将提出促进我们对这些来源的理解所必需的关键观察结果，然后是由此实现的广泛科学。最后，我将讨论未来必要的能力，以充分利用这些神秘的来源来了解我们的宇宙。