Signals in the tidal deformability for phase transitions in compact stars with constraints from GW170817


Abstract in English

We compute the tidal deformabilities for neutron star merger for equations of state with a strong first order phase transition producing a new separate branch in the mass-radius diagram. A case is found where all three possible pairs of combinations between these two neutron star branches are present for the total mass of $M=2.7M_odot$ of the observed merger event GW170817. It is demonstrated that the plot of the two tidal deformabilities $Lambda_1$ and $Lambda_2$ of the binary neutron star can show up to three separate branches. We propose that the future detections of neutron star merger events with the same value for $Lambda_1$ but different values of $Lambda_2$ serve as a signal for the existence of a strong first order phase transition in neutron star matter.

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