No Arabic abstract
Fisher matrix and related studies have suggested that with second-generation gravitational wave detectors, it may be possible to infer the equation of state of neutron stars using tidal effects in binary inspiral. Here we present the first fully Bayesian investigation of this problem. We simulate a realistic data analysis setting by performing a series of numerical experiments of binary neutron star signals hidden in detector noise, assuming the projected final design sensitivity of the Advanced LIGO- Virgo network. With an astrophysical distribution of events (in particular, uniform in co-moving volume), we find that only a few tens of detections will be required to arrive at strong constraints, even for some of the softest equations of state in the literature. Thus, direct gravitational wave detection will provide a unique probe of neutron star structure.
Recently exploratory studies were performed on the possibility of constraining the neutron star equation of state (EOS) using signals from coalescing binary neutron stars, or neutron star-black hole systems, as they will be seen in upcoming advanced gravitational wave detectors such as Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. In particular, it was estimated to what extent the combined information from multiple detections would enable one to distinguish between different equations of state through hypothesis ranking or parameter estimation. Under the assumption of zero neutron star spins both in signals and in template waveforms and considering tidal effects to 1 post-Newtonian (1PN) order, it was found that O(20) sources would suffice to distinguish between a hard, moderate, and soft equation of state. Here we revisit these results, this time including neutron star tidal effects to the highest order currently known, termination of gravitational waveforms at the contact frequency, neutron star spins, and the resulting quadrupole-monopole interaction. We also take the masses of neutron stars in simulated sources to be distributed according to a relatively strongly peaked Gaussian, as hinted at by observations, but without assuming that the data analyst will necessarily have accurate knowledge of this distribution for use as a mass prior. We find that especially the effect of the latter is dramatic, necessitating many more detections to distinguish between different EOS and causing systematic biases in parameter estimation, on top of biases due to imperfect understanding of the signal model pointed out in earlier work. This would get mitigated if reliable prior information about the mass distribution could be folded into the analyses.
Gravitational waves from binary neutron star inspirals have been detected along with the electromagnetic transients coming from the aftermath of the merger in GW170817. However, much is still unknown about the post-merger dynamics that connects these two sets of observables. This includes if, and when, the post-merger remnant star collapses to a black hole, and what are the necessary conditions to power a short gamma-ray burst, and other observed electromagnetic counterparts. Observing the collapse of the post-merger neutron star would shed led on these questions, constraining models for the short gamma-ray burst engine and the hot neutron star equation of state. In this work, we explore the scope of using gravitational wave detectors to measure the timing of the collapse either indirectly, by establishing the shut-off of the post-merger gravitational emission, or---more challengingly---directly, by detecting the collapse signal. For the indirect approach, we consider a kilohertz high-frequency detector design that utilises a previously studied coupled arm cavity and signal recycling cavity resonance. This design would give a signal-to-noise ratio of 0.5,-,8.6 (depending on the variation of waveform parameters) for a collapse gravitational wave signal occurring at 10,ms post-merger of a binary at 50,Mpc and with total mass $2.7 M_odot$. For the direct approach, we propose a narrow-band detector design, utilising the sensitivity around the frequency of the arm cavity free spectral range. The proposed detector achieves a signal-to-noise ratio of 0.3,-,1.9, independent of the collapse time. This detector is limited by both the fundamental classical and quantum noise with the arm cavity power chosen as 10,MW.
Gravitational-wave measurements of the tidal deformability in neutron-star binary coalescences can be used to infer the still unknown equation of state (EoS) of dense matter above the nuclear saturation density. By employing a Bayesian-ranking test we quantify the ability of current and future gravitational-wave observations to discriminate among families of realistic EoS which differ in particle content and ab-initio microscopic calculations. While the constraining power of GW170817 is limited, stringent constraints can be placed with approximately 10 coalescences detected by LIGO-Virgo at design sensitivity, but only for relatively stiff EoS which are already marginally in tension with GW170817. However, we show that even just a single detection with a third-generation detector such as the Einstein Telescope or Cosmic Explorer will rule out several families of EoS with very strong statistical significance, and can discriminate among models which feature similar softness, hence constraining the properties of nuclear matter to unprecedented levels.
The observation of gravitational wave signals from binary black hole mergers has established the field of gravitational wave astronomy. It is expected that future networks of gravitational wave detectors will possess great potential in probing various aspects of astronomy. An important consideration for successive improvement of current detectors or establishment on new sites is knowledge of the minimum number of detectors required to perform precision astronomy. We attempt to answer this question by assessing ability of future detector networks in detecting and localizing binary neutron stars mergers in the sky. This is an important aspect as a good localization ability is crucial for many of the scientific goals of gravitational wave astronomy, such as electromagnetic follow-up, measuring the properties of compact binaries throughout cosmic history, and cosmology. We find that although two detectors at improved sensitivity are sufficient to get a substantial increase in the number of observed signals, at least three detectors of comparable sensitivity are required to localize majority of the signals, typically to within around 10 deg$^{2}$ --- adequate for follow-up with most wide field of view optical telescopes.
The detection of gravitational waves from binary neutron stars is a major goal of the gravitational-wave observatories Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. Previous searches for binary neutron stars with LIGO and Virgo neglected the component stars angular momentum (spin). We demonstrate that neglecting spin in matched-filter searches causes advanced detectors to lose more than 3% of the possible signal-to-noise ratio for 59% (6%) of sources, assuming that neutron star dimensionless spins, $cmathbf{J}/GM^2$, are uniformly distributed with magnitudes between 0 and 0.4 (0.05) and that the neutron stars have isotropically distributed spin orientations. We present a new method for constructing template banks for gravitational wave searches for systems with spin. We present a new metric in a parameter space in which the template placement metric is globally flat. This new method can create template banks of signals with non-zero spins that are (anti-)aligned with the orbital angular momentum. We show that this search loses more than 3% of the maximium signal-to-noise for only 9% (0.2%) of BNS sources with dimensionless spins between 0 and 0.4 (0.05) and isotropic spin orientations. Use of this template bank will prevent selection bias in gravitational-wave searches and allow a more accurate exploration of the distribution of spins in binary neutron stars.