The LIGO and Virgo Collaborations currently conduct searches for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences in real-time. For promising candidate events, a sky map and distance estimation are released in low-latency, to facilitate their electromagnetic follow-up. Currently, no information is released about the masses of the compact objects. Recently, Margalit and Metzger (2019) have suggested that knowledge of the chirp mass of the detected binary neutron stars could be useful to prioritize the electromagnetic follow-up effort, and have urged the LIGO-Virgo collaboration to release chirp mass information in low-latency. One might worry that low-latency searches for compact binaries make simplifying assumptions that could introduce biases in the mass parameters: neutron stars are treated as point particles with dimensionless spins below $0.05$ and perfectly aligned with the orbital angular momentum. Furthermore, the template bank used to search for them has a finite resolution. In this paper we show that none of these limitations can introduce chirp mass biases larger than $\sim 10^{-3}~M_\odot$. Even the total mass is usually accurately estimated, with biases smaller than 6%. The mass ratio and effective inspiral spins, on the other hand, can suffer from more severe biases.
We calculate the electromagnetic signal of a gamma-ray flare coming from the surface of a neutron star shortly before merger with a black hole companion. Using a new version of the Monte Carlo radiation transport code Pandurata that incorporates dynamic spacetimes, we integrate photon geodesics from the neutron star surface until they reach a distant observer or are captured by the black hole. The gamma-ray light curve is modulated by a number of relativistic effects, including Doppler beaming and gravitational lensing. Because the photons originate from the inspiraling neutron star, the light…
Conformally flat, quasi-circular numerical simulations of the gravitational wave chirp from binary neutron star merger GW170817
Center for Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame（圣母大学天体物理中心物理系）；Center for Research Computing, University of Notre Dame（圣母大学计算研究中心）
The two neutron star-black hole mergers (GW200105 and GW200115) observed in gravitational waves by advanced LIGO and Virgo, mark the first ever discovery of such binaries in nature. We study these two neutron star-black hole systems through isolated binary evolution, using a grid of population synthesis models. Using both mass and spin observations (chirp mass, effective spin and remnant spin) of the binaries, we probe their different possible formation channels in different metallicity environments. Our models only support LIGO data when assuming the black hole is non spinning. Our results sh…
Observations of gravitational waves from neutron star mergers open up novel directions for exploring fundamental physics: they offer the first access to the structure of objects with a non-negligible contribution from vacuum energy to their total mass. The presence of such vacuum energy in the inner cores of neutron stars occurs in new QCD phases at large densities, with the vacuum energy appearing in the equation of state for a new phase. This in turn leads to a change in the internal structure of neutron stars and influences their tidal deformabilities which are measurable in the chirp signa…
Gravitational waves from the coalescence of two neutron stars were recently detected for the first time by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration, in event GW170817. This detection placed an upper limit on the effective tidal deformability of the two neutron stars and tightly constrained the chirp mass of the system. We report here on a new simplification that arises in the effective tidal deformability of the binary, when the chirp mass is specified. We find that, in this case, the effective tidal deformability of the binary is surprisingly independent of the component masses of the individual neutron …
We construct new, multivariate empirical relations for measuring neutron star radii and tidal deformabilities from the dominant gravitational wave frequency in the post-merger phase of binary neutron star mergers. The relations determine neutron star radii and tidal deformabilities for specific neutron star masses with consistent accuracy and depend only on two observables: the post-merger peak frequency $f_{\rm peak}$ and the chirp mass $M_{\rm chirp}$. The former could be measured with good accuracy from gravitational waves emitted in the post-merger phase using next-generation detectors, wh…
In this letter we focus on the peculiar case of a coalescing compact-object binary whose chirp mass is compatible both with a neutron star-neutron star and black hole-neutron star system, with the black hole in the $\sim 3-5M_\odot$ range defined as the "mass gap". Some models of core-collapse supernovae predict the formation of such low-mass black holes and a recent observation seems to confirm their existence. Here we show that the nature of the companion to the neutron star can be inferred from the properties of the kilonova emission once we know the chirp mass, which is the best constraine…
Finite size effects in a neutron star merger are manifested, at leading order, through the tidal deformabilities (Lambdas) of the stars. If strong first-order phase transitions do not exist within neutron stars, both neutron stars are described by the same equation of state, and their Lambdas are highly correlated through their masses even if the equation of state is unknown. If, however, a strong phase transition exists between the central densities of the two stars, so that the more massive star has a phase transition and the least massive star does not, this correlation will be weakened. In…
Black hole-neutron star mergers are among the promising gravitational-wave sources for ground-based detectors, and gravitational waves from black hole-neutron star mergers are expected to be detected in the next few years. Simultaneous detection of electromagnetic counterparts with gravitational-wave detection provides rich information about the merger events. Among the possible electromagnetic counterparts from the black hole-neutron star merger, the emission powered by the decay of radioactive r-process nuclei, so called kilonova/macronova, is one of the best targets for follow-up observatio…
GW190425 is the newly discovered gravitational wave (GW) source consistent with a neutron star-neutron star merger with chirp mass of $1.44\pm0.02M_\odot.$ This value falls in the $ambiguous$ interval as from the GW signal alone we can not rule out the presence of a black hole in the binary. In this case, the system would host a neutron star and a very light stellar black hole, with mass close to the maximum value for neutron stars, filling the $mass$ $gap$. No electromagnetic counterpart is firmly associated with this event, due to the poorly informative sky localisation and larger distance, …
The electromagnetic (EM) signal of a binary neutron star (BNS) merger depends sensitively on the total binary mass, $M_{\rm tot}$, relative to various threshold masses set by the neutron star (NS) equation-of-state (EOS), parameterized through the NS maximum mass, $M_{\rm TOV}$, and characteristic radius, $R_{1.6}$. EM observations of a BNS merger detected through its gravitational wave (GW) emission, which are of sufficient quality to ascertain the identity of the merger remnant, can therefore constrain the values of $M_{\rm TOV}$ and $R_{1.6}$, given the tight connection between $M_{\rm tot}…
The nature of GW190425, a presumed binary neutron star (BNS) merger detected by the LIGO/Virgo Scientific Collaboration (LVC) with a total mass of $3.4^{+0.3}_{-0.1}$ M$_{\odot}$, remains a mystery. With such a large total mass, GW190425 stands at five standard deviations away from the total mass distribution of Galactic BNSs of $2.66\pm 0.12$ M$_{\odot}$. LVC suggested that this system could be a BNS formed from a fast-merging channel rendering its non-detection at radio wavelengths due to selection effects. BNSs with orbital periods less than a few hours - progenitors of LIGO/Virgo mergers -…
One of largest uncertainties in nuclear physics is the relation between the pressure and density of supranuclear matter: the equation of state. Some of this uncertainty may be removed through future gravitational wave observations of neutron star binaries by extracting the tidal deformabilities (or Love numbers) of neutron stars. Previous studies showed that only a certain combination of the individual deformabilities of each body (chirp tidal deformability) can be measured with second-generation gravitational wave interferometers, such as Adv. LIGO, due to correlations between the individual …
We show that the inferred merger rate and chirp masses of binary black holes (BBHs) detected by advanced LIGO (aLIGO) can be used to constrain the rate of double neutron star (DNS) and neutron star - black hole (NSBH) mergers in the universe. We explicitly demonstrate this by considering a set of publicly available population synthesis models of \citet{Dominik:2012kk} and show that if all the BBH mergers, GW150914, LVT151012, GW151226, and GW170104, observed by aLIGO arise from isolated binary evolution, the predicted DNS merger rate may be constrained to be $2.3-471.0$~\rate~ and that of NSBH…
The prime candidate sources for the upcoming space-borne gravitational wave (GW) observatory LISA are the numerous Galactic tight binaries of white dwarfs (WDs) and neutron stars (NSs), many of which will coalesce and undergo mass transfer, leading to simultaneous emission of X-rays and GWs. Here, detailed and coherent numerical stellar models are explored for the formation and evolution of these systems, including finite-temperature effects and complete calculations of mass transfer from a WD to a NS accretor. Evolutionary tracks of characteristic strain amplitude are computed, and the unique…
Searches for gravitational-wave counterparts have been going in earnest since GW170817 and the discovery of AT2017gfo. Since then, the lack of detection of other optical counterparts connected to binary neutron star or black hole - neutron star candidates has highlighted the need for a better discrimination criterion to support this effort. At the moment, the low-latency gravitational-wave alerts contain preliminary information about the binary properties and, hence, on whether a detected binary might have an electromagnetic counterpart. The current alert method is a classifier that estimates …
Recent studies suggest that coalescing neutron stars are subject to a fluid instability involving the nonlinear coupling of the tide to $p$-modes and $g$-modes. Its influence on the inspiral dynamics and thus the gravitational wave signal is, however, uncertain because we do not know precisely how the instability saturates. Here we construct a simple, physically motivated model of the saturation that allows us to explore the instability's impact as a function of the model parameters. We find that for plausible assumptions about the saturation, current gravitational wave detectors might miss $>…
We investigate the prospects for joint low-latency gravitational wave (GW) detection and prompt electromagnetic (EM) follow-up observations of coalescing binary neutron stars (BNSs). For BNS mergers associated with short duration gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs), we for the first time evaluate the feasibility of rapid EM follow-ups to capture the prompt emission, early engine activity or reveal any potential by-products such as magnetars or fast radio bursts. To achieve our goal, we first simulate a population of coalescing BNSs using realistic distributions of source parameters and estimate the detec…
Advanced ground-based gravitational-wave (GW) detectors begin operation imminently. Their intended goal is not only to make the first direct detection of GWs, but also to make inferences about the source systems. Binary neutron-star mergers are among the most promising sources. We investigate the performance of the parameter-estimation \edit{(PE)} pipeline that will be used during the first observing run of the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (aLIGO) in 2015: we concentrate on the ability to reconstruct the source location on the sky, but also consider the ability …
We estimate the properties of the double neutron star (DNS) population that will be observable by the planned space-based interferometer LISA. By following the gravitational radiation driven evolution of DNSs generated from rapid population synthesis of massive binary stars, we estimate that around 35 DNSs will accumulate a signal-to-noise ratio above 8 over a four-year LISA mission. The observed population mainly comprises Galactic DNSs (94 per cent), but detections in the LMC (5 per cent) and SMC (1 per cent) may also be expected. The median orbital frequency of detected DNSs is expected to …
We analyze how the crust equation of state affects several neutron star properties and how it impacts on possible constraints inferred from astrophysical observations. Using three distinct crusts, we generate three sets of model-independent equations of state describing stellar matter from a Taylor expansion around saturation density. The equations of state are thermodynamically consistent, causal, and compatible with astrophysical observations. The relations between the tidal deformability $Λ$ and compactness $C$, Love number $k_2$ and radius of neutron star with mass $M$ are studied, and the…
In this work, we investigate the influence of the phase transition and a stiffer fluid in neutron stars' cores on the static equilibrium configuration, dynamical stability, and tidal deformability. For this aim, it is taken into account that the fluid in the core and the envelope follow the relativistic polytropic equation of state. We find that the phase transition and a stiffer fluid in the core will reflect in the total mass, radius, speed of sound, core radius, radial stability with a slow and rapid conversion at the interface, and tidal deformability. We also investigate the dimensionless…
In this work we study the formation of the first two black hole-neutron star (BHNS) mergers detected in gravitational waves (GW200115 and GW200105) from massive stars in wide isolated binary systems - the isolated binary evolution channel. We use 560 BHNS binary population synthesis model realizations from Broekgaarden et al. (2021a) and show that the system properties (chirp mass, component masses and mass ratios) of both GW200115 and GW200105 match predictions from the isolated binary evolution channel. We also show that most model realizations can account for the local BHNS merger rate dens…
Tight bound on neutron-star radius with quasiperiodic oscillations in short gamma-ray bursts
University of Virginia（弗吉尼亚大学）；The Pennsylvania State University（宾夕法尼亚州立大学）；University of Maryland, College Park（马里兰大学帕克分校）；NASA/GSFC（美国国家航空航天局戈达德太空飞行中心）；Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, NASA/GSFC（美国国家航空航天局戈达德太空飞行中心空间科学与技术研究探索中心）；UFABC（巴西联邦 ABC 大学）
2015 will see the first observations of Advanced LIGO and the start of the gravitational-wave (GW) advanced-detector era. One of the most promising sources for ground-based GW detectors are binary neutron-star (BNS) coalescences. In order to use any detections for astrophysics, we must understand the capabilities of our parameter-estimation analysis. By simulating the GWs from an astrophysically motivated population of BNSs, we examine the accuracy of parameter inferences in the early advanced-detector era. We find that sky location, which is important for electromagnetic follow-up, can be det…
Gravitational-wave observations of compact binaries have the potential to uncover the distribution of masses and angular momenta of black holes and neutron stars in the universe. The binary components' physical parameters can be inferred from their effect on the phasing of the gravitational-wave signal, but a partial degeneracy between the components' mass ratio and their angular momenta limits our ability to measure the individual component masses. At the typical signal amplitudes expected by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (signal-to-noise ratios between 10 a…
The third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo collaboration has resulted in about hundred gravitational-wave triggers including the binary neutron star merger GW190425. However, none of these events have been accompanied with an electromagnetic transient found during extensive follow-up searches. In this article, we perform new numerical-relativity simulations of binary neutron star and black hole - neutron star systems that have a chirp mass consistent with GW190425. Assuming that the GW190425's sky location was covered with sufficient accuracy during the electromagnetic follow-up searches, we in…
We present new numerical relativity results of neutron star mergers with chirp mass $1.188M_\odot$ and mass ratios $q=1.67$ and $q=1.8$ using finite-temperature equations of state (EOS), approximate neutrino transport and a subgrid model for magnetohydrodynamics-induced turbulent viscosity. The EOS are compatible with nuclear and astrophysical constraints and include a new microphysical model derived from ab-initio calculations based on the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach. We report for the first time evidence for accretion-induced prompt collapse in high-mass-ratio mergers, in which the tidal…
Using a data set of approximately 2 million phenomenological equations of state consistent with observational constraints, we construct new equation-of-state-insensitive universal relations that exist between the multipolar tidal deformability parameters of neutron stars, $Λ_l$, for several high-order multipoles ($l = 5,6,7,8$). We confirm the existence of a universal relation between the radius of the $1.4 M_\odot$ NS, $R_{1.4}$ and the reduced tidal parameter of the binary, $\tildeΛ$, and the chirp mass. We extend this relation to a large number of chirp masses and to the radii of isolated N…
We propose a procedure to be used in the search for gravitational waves from black hole-neutron star coalescing binaries, in coincidence with short gamma-ray bursts. It is based on two recently proposed semi-analytic fits, one reproducing the mass of the remnant disk surrounding the black hole which forms after the merging as a function of some binary parameters, the second relating the neutron star compactness, i.e. the ratio of mass and radius, with its tidal deformability. Using a Fisher matrix analysis and the two fits, we assign a probability that the emitted gravitational signal is assoc…
The central engine of GRB170817A post-merger to GW170817 is probed by GW-calorimetry and event timing, applied to a post-merger descending chirp which can potentially break the degeneracy in spin-down of a neutron star or black hole remnant by the relatively large energy reservoir in the angular momentum, $E_J$, of the latter according to the Kerr metric. This analysis derives from model-agnostic spectrograms with equal sensitivity to ascending and descending chirps generated by time-symmetric butterfly matched filtering. The sensitivity was calibrated by response curves generated by software …
We examine how fast radio burst (FRB)-like signals predicted to be generated during the merger of a binary neutron star (BNS) may be detected in low-frequency radio observations triggered by the aLIGO/Virgo gravitational wave detectors. The rapidity, directional accuracy, and sensitivity of follow-up observations with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) are considered. We show that with current methodology, the rapidity criteria fails for triggered MWA observations above 136 MHz for BNS mergers within the aLIGO/Virgo horizon, for which little dispersive delay is expected. A calculation of the …
Binary neutron star (BNS) post-merger gravitational-wave emission can occur in the aftermath of a BNS merger -- provided the system avoids prompt collapse to a black hole -- as a quasistable hypermassive remnant experiences quadrupolar oscillations and non-axisymmetric deformations. The post-merger gravitational-wave spectrum possesses a characteristic peak frequency that has been shown to be dependent on the binary chirp mass and the neutron star equation of state (EoS), rendering post-merger gravitational waves a powerful tool for constraining neutron star composition. Unfortunately, the BNS…
We derive the upper limit to the ejecta mass of S190814bv, a black hole-neutron star merger candidate, through the radiative transfer simulations for kilonovae with the realistic ejecta density profile as well as the detailed opacity and heating rate models. The limits to the ejecta mass strongly depend on the viewing angle. For the face-on observations ($\le45^\circ$), the total ejecta mass should be smaller than $0.1\,M_\odot$ for the average distance of S190814bv ($D=267$ Mpc), while larger mass is allowed for the edge-on observations. We also derive the conservative upper limits of the dyn…
The favoured progenitor model for short $γ$-ray bursts (SGRBs) is the merger of two neutron stars that triggers an explosion with a burst of collimated $γ$-rays. Following the initial prompt emission, some SGRBs exhibit a plateau phase in their $X$-ray light curves that indicates additional energy injection from a central engine, believed to be a rapidly rotating, highly magnetised neutron star. The collapse of this `protomagnetar' to a black hole is likely to be responsible for a steep decay in $X$-ray flux observed at the end of the plateau. In this letter, we show that these observations ca…
Kilohertz Gravitational Waves from Binary Neutron Star Mergers: Full Spectrum Analyses and High-density Constraints on Neutron Star Matter
Theoretisch-Physikalisches Institut, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena（耶拿弗里德里希·席勒大学理论物理研究所）；Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University（宾夕法尼亚州立大学引力与宇宙学研究所）；Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校物理系）
Neutron star equations of state with strong phase transitions may support twin stars, hybrid and hadronic stars with the same mass but different tidal deformabilities. The presence of twin stars in the population of merging neutron stars produces distinctive gaps in the joint distribution of binary tidal deformabilities and chirp masses. We analyze a simulated population of binary neutron star mergers recovered with a network of next-generation (XG) ground-based gravitational-wave detectors to determine how many observations are needed to infer, or rule out, the existence of twin stars. Using …
We have implemented prescriptions for modelling pulsars in the rapid binary population synthesis code COMPAS. We perform a detailed analysis of the double neutron star (DNS) population, accounting for radio survey selection effects. The surface magnetic field decay timescale (${\sim}1000$\,Myr) and mass scale (${\sim}0.02$\,M$_\odot$) are the dominant uncertainties in our model. Mass accretion during common envelope evolution plays a non-trivial role in recycling pulsars. We find a best-fit model that is in broad agreement with the observed Galactic DNS population. Though the pulsar parameters…
We compute the continuous part of the ideal-magnetohydrodynamic (ideal-MHD) frequency spectrum of a polar mountain produced by magnetic burial on an accreting neutron star. Applying the formalism developed by Hellsten & Spies (1979), extended to include gravity, we solve the singular eigenvalue problem subject to line-tying boundary conditions. This spectrum divides into an Alfvén part and a cusp part. The eigenfunctions are chirped and anharmonic with an exponential envelope, and the eigenfrequencies cover the whole spectrum above a minimum $ω_\mathrm{low}$. For equilibria with accreted mass …
The maximum mass of a nonrotating neutron star, $M_{\rm TOV}$, plays a very important role in deciphering the structure and composition of neutron stars and in revealing the equation of state (EOS) of nuclear matter. Although with a large-error bar, the recent mass estimate for the black-widow binary pulsar PSR J0952-0607, i.e. $M=2.35\pm0.17~M_\odot$, provides the strongest lower bound on $M_{\rm TOV}$ and suggests that neutron stars with very large masses can in principle be observed. Adopting an agnostic modelling of the EOS, we study the impact that large masses have on the neutron-star pr…
Binary Neutron Star Merger Simulations with Microphysical Equation of State using Spritz
INFN, Sezione di Milano-Bicocca（意大利国家核物理研究所米兰比可卡分部）；The Grainger College of Engineering, Department of Physics & Illinois Center for Advanced Studies of the Universe, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校格兰杰工程学院物理系及宇宙高级研究中心）；Dipartimento di Fisica G. Occhialini, Università di Milano-Bicocca（米兰比可卡大学G. Occhialini物理系）；INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova（意大利国家天体物理研究所帕多瓦天文台）；INFN, Sezione di Padova（意大利国家核物理研究所帕多瓦分部）；Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento（特伦托大学物理系）；INFN-TIFPA, Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications（意大利国家核物理研究所-特伦托基础物理与应用研究所）
The excitation of $f$-mode in a neutron star member of coalescing binaries accelerates the merger course, and thereby introduces a phase shift in the gravitational waveform. Emphasising on the tidal phase shift by aligned, rotating stars, we provide an accurate, yet economical, method to generate $f$-mode-involved, pre-merger waveforms using realistic spin-modulated $f$-mode frequencies for some viable equations of state. We find for slow-rotating stars that the dephasing effects of the dynamical tides can be uniquely, EOS-independently determined by the direct observables (chirp mass ${\cal M…
We present a systematic numerical-relativity study of the dynamical ejecta, winds and nucleosynthesis in neutron star merger remnants. Binaries with the chirp mass compatible with GW170817, different mass ratios, and five microphysical equations of state (EOS) are simulated with an approximate neutrino transport and a subgrid model for magnetohydrodynamics turbulence up to 100 milliseconds postmerger. Spiral density waves propagating from the neutron star remnant to the disk trigger a wind with mass flux ${\sim}0.1{-}0.5\,{\rm M_\odot/s}$ persisting for the entire simulation as long as the rem…
The gravitational wave emission from the merging binary neutron star system GW170817 arrived full of tidal information which can be used to probe the fundamental ultra-dense nuclear physics residing in these stars. In previous work, we used two-dimensional correlations between nuclear matter parameters and tidal deformabilities of neutron stars applying specifically to GW170817 to derive constraints on the former. Here, we extend this analysis by finding similar correlations for varying chirp masses, the dominant determining factor in the frequency evolution of the inspiral, such that one can …
