Understanding neutron stars through gravitational waves

by Nikolaos Stergioulas (Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)

Tuesday 7 Apr 2015, 13:15 → 15:00 Europe/Stockholm

FA31

The properties of matter at the core of neutron stars are still highly uncertain. Gravitational wave observations of binary neutron star mergers have the potential of constraining the radius of neutron stars and thus the equation of state of high-density matter. The post-merger part of the spectrum may allow us to determine several oscillation modes of the high-mass, differentially rotating remnant. The talk will highlight our current understanding of different mechanisms by which gravitational waves are emitted after the merger of two neutron stars. The dominant oscillation frequency can be used to constraint the radii of low-mass neutron stars as well as to estimate their maximum masses, through a novel empirical procedure. A recently proposed unified picture of the post-merger dynamics includes gravitational waves emitted by a spiral deformation. Prospects of these new findings will be discussed. (host: Korobkin)