Simulations of binary neutron star mergers suggest that future detectors will differentiate between different models of thermonuclear matter. Researchers used supercomputer simulations to explore how neutron star mergers affect gravitational waves, discovering a key relationship with the temperature of the remnants. This research could contribute to future advances in detecting and understanding thermonuclear matter.
When two neutron stars orbit each other, they release ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. These ripples consume energy from the orbit until the two stars eventually collide and merge into a single object. Scientists used supercomputer simulations to explore how the behavior of different models of nuclear matter affects the gravitational waves released after these mergers. They found a strong correlation between the temperature of the remnant and the frequency of these gravitational waves. Next-generation detectors will be able to distinguish between these models.
Scientists use neutron stars as laboratories to study nuclear material in conditions undetectable on Earth. They are using current gravitational wave detectors to observe neutron star mergers and understand how ultra-dense cold matter behaves. However, these detectors cannot measure the signal from the merged stars. This signal contains information about thermonuclear matter. Future detectors will be even more sensitive to these signals. Because they can also distinguish between different models, the results of this study suggest that future detectors will help scientists build better models of thermonuclear matter.
This study investigated neutron star mergers using THC_M1. THC_M1 is a computer code that simulates neutron star mergers, taking into account the curvature of space-time caused by the star's powerful gravitational field and the neutrino process in dense matter. The researchers tested the impact of thermal effects on mergers by varying the specific heat capacity in the equation of state, which measures the energy required to raise the temperature of the neutron star's material by one degree. To ensure the robustness of the results, the researchers performed simulations at two resolutions. They repeated the higher-resolution run with a more approximate treatment of neutrinos.
References
"Thermal Effects in Binary Neutron Star Mergers," by Jacob Fields, Aviral Prakash, Matteo Breschi, David Radice, Sebastiano Bernuzzi, and Andréda Silva Schneider, July 31, 2023, Astrophysical Journal Letters.
DOI:10.3847/2041-8213/ace5b2
"Identification of nuclear effects in neutron-carbon interactions during low third momentum transfer", until February 17, 2016, "Physical Review Letters".
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.071802
This work used computing resources provided by Penn State's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, and the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences.
Compiled source: ScitechDaily