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Abstract
Kilonova spectra provide us with information of
r
-process nucleosynthesis in neutron star mergers. However, it is still challenging to identify individual elements in the spectra mainly due to the lack of experimentally accurate atomic data for heavy elements at near-infrared wavelengths. Recently, Domoto et al. proposed that the absorption features around 14500 Å in the observed spectra of GW170817/AT2017gfo are Ce
iii
lines. But they used theoretical transition probabilities (
gf
-values) whose accuracy is uncertain. In this paper, we derive the astrophysical
gf
-values of three Ce
iii
lines, aiming at verifying this identification. We model high-resolution
H
-band spectra of four F-type supergiants showing clear Ce
iii
absorption features by assuming stellar parameters derived from optical spectra in the literature. We also test the validity of the derived astrophysical
gf
-values by estimating the Ce
iii
abundances of Ap stars. We find that the derived astrophysical
gf
-values of the Ce
iii
lines are systematically lower by about 0.25 dex than those used in previous work of kilonovae, while they are still compatible within the uncertainty ranges. By performing radiative transfer simulations of kilonovae with the derived
gf
-values, we find that the identification of Ce
iii
as a source of absorption features in the observed kilonova spectra still stands, even considering the uncertainties in the astrophysical
gf
-values. This supports the identification of Ce in the spectra of GW170817/AT2017gfo.