No Arabic abstract
A kilonova signal is generally expected after a Black Hole - Neutron Star merger. The strength of the signal is related to the equation of state of neutron star matter and it increases with the stiffness of the latter. The recent results obtained by NICER suggest a rather stiff equation of state and the expected kilonova signal is therefore strong, at least if the mass of the Black Hole does not exceed $sim 10 M_odot$. We compare the predictions obtained by considering equations of state of neutron star matter satisfying the most recent observations and assuming that only one family of compact stars exists with the results predicted in the two-families scenario. In the latter a soft hadronic equation of state produces very compact stellar objects while a rather stiff quark matter equation of state produces massive strange quark stars, satisfying NICER results. The expected kilonova signal in the two-families scenario is very weak: the Strange Quark Star - Black Hole merger does not produce a kilonova signal because, according to simulations, the amount of mass ejected is negligible and the Hadronic Star - Black Hole merger produces a much weaker signal than in the one-family scenario because the hadronic equation of state is very soft. This prediction will be easily tested with the new generation of detectors.
We investigate the possibility that GW170817 has not been the merger of two conventional neutron stars (NS) but involved at least one if not two hybrid stars with a quark matter core which might even belong to a third family of compact stars. To this end, we develop a Bayesian analysis method for selecting the most probable equation of state (EoS) under a set of constraints from compact star physics, which now also include the tidal deformability from GW170817 and the first result for the mass and radius determination for PSR J0030+0451 by NICER. We apply this method for the first time to a two-parameter family of hybrid EoS based on the DD2 model with nucleonic excluded volume for hadronic matter and the color superconducting generalized nlNJL model for quark matter. The model has a variable onset of deconfinement and can mimic the effects of pasta phases with the possibility of a third family of hybrid stars in the mass-radius ($M-R$) diagram. The main findings of this study are that: 1) the presence of multiple configurations for a given mass (twins) corresponds to a set of disconnected lines in the diagram of tidal deformabilities for binary mergers, so that merger events from the same mass range may result in a probability landscape with different peak positions; 2) the Bayesian analysis with the above observational constraints favors an early onset of the deconfinement transition, at masses of $M_{rm onset}le 0.8~M_odot$ with a $M-R$ relationship that in the range of observed neutron star masses is almost indistinguishable from that of a soft hadronic APR EoS; 3) a few yet fictitious measurements of the NICER experiment with a $1sigma$ range that is half of the present value and different mass and radius would change the posterior likelihood so that hybrid EoS with a phase transition onset in the range $M_{rm onset} = 1.1 - 1.6~M_odot $ would be favored.
GW190426_152155 was recently reported as one of the 39 candidate gravitational wave (GW) events in citet{2020arXiv201014527A}, which has an unusual source-frame chirp mass $sim 2.4M_{odot}$ and may be the first GW signal from a neutron star-black hole (NSBH) merger. Assuming an astrophysical origin, we reanalyze GW190426_152155 using several waveforms with different characteristics, and consider two different priors for the mass ratio of the binary (Uniform and LogUniform). We find that the results are influenced by the priors of mass ratio, and this candidate could also be from the merger of two low mass black holes (BH). In the case for a binary black hole (BBH) merger, the effective spin is likely negative and the effective precession spin is non-negligible. As for the NSBH merger, supposing the mass of the light object follow the distribution of current neutron stars (NSs) with a reasonably measured/constrained mass, the spin of the low mass BH is so small that is hard to generate bright electromagnetic emission. Finally, we estimate a merger rate of GW190426_152155-like systems to be $59^{+137}_{-51}~{rm Gpc}^{-3}~{rm yr}^{-1}$.
The LIGO/Virgo Consortium (LVC) released a preliminary announcement of a candidate gravitational wave signal, S190426c, that could have arisen from a black hole-neutron star merger. As the first such candidate system, its properties such as masses and spin are of great interest. Although LVC policy prohibits disclosure of these properties in preliminary announcements, LVC does release the estimated probabilities that this system is in specific categories, such as binary neutron star, binary black hole and black hole-neutron star. LVC also releases information concerning relative signal strength, distance, and the probability that ejected mass or a remnant disc survived the merger. In the case of events with a finite probability of being in more than one category, such as is likely to occur with a black hole-neutron star merger, it is shown how to estimate the masses of the components and the spin of the black hole. This technique is applied to the source S190426c.
Context: Mergers of neutron stars (NS) and black holes (BH) are among the strongest sources of gravitational waves and are potential central engines for short gamma-ray bursts. Aims: We aim to compare the general relativistic (GR) results by other groups with Newtonian calculations of models with equivalent parameters. We vary the mass ratios between NS and BH and the compactness of the NS. The mass of the NS is 1.4 M_sol. We compare the dynamics in the parameter-space regions where the NS is expected to reach the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) before being tidally disrupted (mass shedding, MS) and vice versa. Methods: The hydrodynamics is evolved by a Newtonian PPM scheme with four levels of nested grids. We use a polytropic EoS (Gamma=2), as was done in the GR simulations. However, instead of full GR we use a Newtonian potential supplemented by a Paczynski-Wiita-Artemova potential for the BH, both disregarding and including rotation of the BH. Results: If the NS is compact (C=0.18) it is accreted by the BH more quickly, and only a small amount of mass remains outside the BH. If the mass ratio is small (Q=2 or 3) or the NS is less compact (C=0.16 or less) the NS is tidally torn apart before being accreted. Although most of the mass is absorbed by the BH, some 0.1 M_sol remain in a tidal arm. For small mass ratios the tidal arm can wrap around the BH to form a thick disk. When including the effects of BH spin-up or spin-down by the accreted matter, more mass remains in the surroundings (0.2-0.3 M_sol). Conclusions: Although details and quantitative results differ, the general trends of our Newtonian calculations are similar to the GR calculations. A clear delimiting line that separates ISCO from the MS cases is not found. Inclusion of BH rotation as well as sufficient numerical resolution are extremely important.
The origin, environment, and evolution of stellar-mass black hole binaries are still a mystery. One of the proposed binary formation mechanisms is manifest in dynamical interactions between multiple black holes. A resulting framework of these dynamical interactions is the so-called hierarchical triple merger scenario, which happens when three black holes become gravitationally bound, causing two successive black hole mergers to occur. In such successive mergers, the black holes involved are directly related to each other, and hence this channel can be directly tested from the properties of the detected binary black hole mergers. Here we present a search for hierarchical triple mergers among events within the GWTC-1 and GWTC-2 catalogs of LIGO/Virgo, the eccentric localization of GW190521 and those found by the IAS-Princeton group. The search includes improved statistical quantification that also accounts for black hole spins. We perform our analysis for different upper bounds on the mass distribution of first generation BHs. Our results demonstrate the importance of the mass distributions properties for constraining the hierarchical merger scenario. We present the individually significant merger pairs. The search yields interesting candidate families and hints of its future impact.