scholarly journals The origin of the elements and other implications of gravitational wave detection for nuclear physics

4open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
David Lunney
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Star ◽  
Neutron Stars ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Gravitational Waves ◽  
Nuclear Physics ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Binding Energies ◽  
Historical Event ◽  
Essential Contribution ◽  
Optical Astronomy

The neutron-star collision revealed by the event GW170817 gave us a first glimpse of a possible birthplace of most of our heavy elements. The multi-messenger nature of this historical event combined gravitational waves, a gamma-ray burst and optical astronomy of a “kilonova”, bringing the first observations of rapid neutron capture (r process) nucleosynthesis after 60 years of speculation. Modeling the r process requires a prodigious amount of nuclear-physics ingredients: practically all the quantum state and interaction properties of virtually all neutron-rich nuclides, many of which may never be produced in the laboratory! Another essential contribution of nuclear physics to neutron stars (and their eventual coalescence) is the equation of state (EoS) that defines their structure and composition. The EoS, combined with the knowledge of nuclear binding energies, determines the elemental profile of the outer crust of a neutron star and the relationship between its radius and mass. In addition, the EoS determines the form of the gravitational wave signal. This article combines a tutorial presentation and bibliography with recent results that link nuclear mass spectrometry to gravitational waves via neutron stars.

scholarly journals Neutron Star Extreme Matter Observatory: A kilohertz-band gravitational-wave detector in the global network

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Ackley ◽  
V. B. Adya ◽  
P. Agrawal ◽  
P. Altin ◽  
G. Ashton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Star ◽  
Neutron Stars ◽  
Nuclear Matter ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Gravitational Waves ◽  
Nuclear Physics ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Sensitivity Changes ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Event Rates

Abstract Gravitational waves from coalescing neutron stars encode information about nuclear matter at extreme densities, inaccessible by laboratory experiments. The late inspiral is influenced by the presence of tides, which depend on the neutron star equation of state. Neutron star mergers are expected to often produce rapidly rotating remnant neutron stars that emit gravitational waves. These will provide clues to the extremely hot post-merger environment. This signature of nuclear matter in gravitational waves contains most information in the 2–4 kHz frequency band, which is outside of the most sensitive band of current detectors. We present the design concept and science case for a Neutron Star Extreme Matter Observatory (NEMO): a gravitational-wave interferometer optimised to study nuclear physics with merging neutron stars. The concept uses high-circulating laser power, quantum squeezing, and a detector topology specifically designed to achieve the high-frequency sensitivity necessary to probe nuclear matter using gravitational waves. Above 1 kHz, the proposed strain sensitivity is comparable to full third-generation detectors at a fraction of the cost. Such sensitivity changes expected event rates for detection of post-merger remnants from approximately one per few decades with two A+ detectors to a few per year and potentially allow for the first gravitational-wave observations of supernovae, isolated neutron stars, and other exotica.

LIGO/Virgo Listens to Neutron Stars

2020 ◽  
pp. 137-145
Author(s):  
John W. Moffat
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Star ◽  
Neutron Stars ◽  
Gravitational Waves ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Accurate Determination ◽  
Hubble Constant ◽  
Gravitational Theory ◽  
Optical Signal ◽  
Gravity Models ◽  
Expansion Of The Universe

On August 8, 2017, LIGO/Virgo detected the merging of two neutron stars 130 million light years away. Just 1.7 seconds later, the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope received an optical signal—a short gamma ray burst (GRB). Thus began a new era of “multimessenger astronomy.” The GRBs are very energetic explosions observed in galaxies. The neutron star merger offers the first evidence that heavy metals such as gold, platinum, and uranium were created by the collision of neutron stars in a “kilonova.” The resulting gravitational waves offer a new way of measuring the Hubble constant, which determines the rate of expansion of the universe. An important result from the neutron star merger is an extremely accurate determination of the speed of gravitational waves; they move at the speed of light. This has significant ramifications for gravitational theory. It falsifies many proposed modified gravity models.

scholarly journals Gravitational-Wave Asteroseismology as a Tool to Reveal the Equation of State of Relativistic Neutron Stars

2002 ◽  
Vol 185 ◽  
pp. 612-615
Author(s):  
Johannes Ruoff
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Star ◽  
Equation Of State ◽  
Neutron Stars ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Gravitational Waves ◽  
Oscillation Modes

AbstractThe equation of state (EOS) is still the big unknown in the physics of neutron stars. An accurate measurement of both the mass and the radius of a neutron star would put severe constraints on the range of possible EOSs. I discuss how the parameters of the oscillation modes of a neutron star, measured from the emitted gravitational waves, can in principle be used to infer its mass and radius, and thus reveal its EOS.

Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster

2019 ◽  
pp. 132-137
Author(s):  
Nicholas Mee
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Neutron Star ◽  
Neutron Stars ◽  
Gravitational Waves ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Great Accuracy ◽  
Gamma Ray Bursts ◽  
Tests Of General Relativity ◽  
Binary Neutron Star

The sources of short gamma ray bursts (GRBs) have been identified with neutron star merger events. Hulse and Taylor discovered the first binary neutron star in 1974. By monitoring the pulsar in this system the orbital characteristics of the system have been determined with great accuracy. This has led to tests of general relativity, including the first confirmation of the existence of gravitational waves. The emission of this radiation is gradually bringing the two neutron stars together. They will collide and merge in about 300 million years.

scholarly journals Binary Neutron Star and Short Gamma-Ray Burst Simulations in Light of GW170817

Galaxies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonios Nathanail
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Star ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Electromagnetic Radiation ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Gravitational Waves ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Numerical Relativity ◽  
Gamma Ray Burst ◽  
Binary Neutron Star ◽  
The Status

In the dawn of the multi-messenger era of gravitational wave astronomy, which was marked by the first ever coincident detection of gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation, it is important to take a step back and consider our current established knowledge. Numerical simulations of binary neutron star mergers and simulations of short GRB jets must combine efforts to understand such complicated and phenomenologically rich explosions. We review the status of numerical relativity simulations with respect to any jet or magnetized outflow produced after merger. We compare what is known from such simulations with what is used and obtained from short GRB jet simulations propagating through the BNS ejecta. We then review the established facts on this topic, as well as discuss things that need to be revised and further clarified.

Gravitational waves from neutron star binaries

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (01n02) ◽  
pp. 1740015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang-Hwan Lee
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Neutron Star ◽  
Neutron Stars ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Gravitational Waves ◽  
Future Prospect ◽  
Black Hole Binaries ◽  
Wave Detection ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Merger Rate

With H. A. Bethe, G. E. Brown worked on the merger rate of neutron star binaries for the gravitational wave detection. Their prediction has to be modified significantly due to the observations of [Formula: see text] neutron stars and the detection of gravitational waves. There still, however, remains a possibility that neutron star-low mass black hole binaries are significant sources of gravitational waves for the ground-based detectors. In this paper, I review the evolution of neutron star binaries with super-Eddington accretion and discuss the future prospect.

scholarly journals Gravitational waves from binary neutron stars

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Baiotti
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Star ◽  
Equation Of State ◽  
Neutron Stars ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Gravitational Waves ◽  
Compact Stars ◽  
Binary Neutron Star ◽  
Gravitational Wave Detectors ◽  
Global Status ◽  
General Relativistic

AbstractI review the current global status of research on gravitational waves emitted from mergers of binary neutron star systems, focusing on general-relativistic simulations and their use to interpret data from the gravitational-wave detectors, especially in relation to the equation of state of compact stars.

scholarly journals The New Astronomy: Observing Our Universe With Light and Gravity

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joey Shapiro Key ◽  
LIGO Scientific Collaboration
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
South America ◽  
Neutron Stars ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Gravitational Waves ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Distant Galaxy ◽  
The World ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
First Time

On a summer day in 2017, astronomers around the world received a message about an exciting collision of two stars far, far away. The message was sent by a team of astronomers from the LIGO and Virgo observatories. These new observatories are very different from the telescopes we have used to study our Universe up until now. LIGO and Virgo are gravitational wave observatories, listening for quiet ripples in spacetime created by the collisions of distant black holes and neutron stars. On August 17, 2017 LIGO and Virgo detected a signal that astronomers named GW170817, from the collision of two neutron stars. Less than two seconds later, NASA's Fermi satellite caught a signal, known as a gamma-ray burst, and within minutes, telescopes around the world began searching the sky. Telescopes in South America found the location of the collision in a distant galaxy known as NGC 4993. For the weeks and months that followed, astronomers watched the galaxy and the fading light from the collision. This is a new kind of multi-messenger astronomy where, for the first time, the same event was observed by both gravitational waves and light.

scholarly journals MULTI-MESSENGER OBSERVATIONS OF NEUTRON-RICH MATTER

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 2077-2100 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. HOROWITZ
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Star ◽  
Neutron Stars ◽  
Gravitational Waves ◽  
Nuclear Physics ◽  
Heavy Ion Collisions ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Heavy Ion ◽  
Compact Objects ◽  
Rare Isotope ◽  
Ion Collisions

At very high densities, electrons react with protons to form neutron-rich matter. This material is central to many fundamental questions in nuclear physics and astrophysics. Moreover, neutron-rich matter is being studied with an extraordinary variety of new tools such as Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO). We describe the Lead Radius Experiment (PREX) that uses parity violating electron scattering to measure the neutron radius in 208Pb. This has important implications for neutron stars and their crusts. We discuss X-ray observations of neutron star radii. These also have important implications for neutron-rich matter. Gravitational waves (GW) open a new window on neutron-rich matter. They come from sources such as neutron star mergers, rotating neutron star mountains, and collective r-mode oscillations. Using large scale molecular dynamics simulations, we find neutron star crust to be very strong. It can support mountains on rotating neutron stars large enough to generate detectable gravitational waves. Finally, neutrinos from core collapse supernovae (SN) provide another, qualitatively different probe of neutron-rich matter. Neutrinos escape from the surface of last scattering known as the neutrino-sphere. This is a low density warm gas of neutron-rich matter. Neutrino-sphere conditions can be simulated in the laboratory with heavy ion collisions. Observations of neutrinos can probe nucleosyntheses in SN. Simulations of SN depend on the equation of state (EOS) of neutron-rich matter. We discuss a new EOS based on virial and relativistic mean field calculations. We believe that combing astronomical observations using photons, GW, and neutrinos, with laboratory experiments on nuclei, heavy ion collisions, and radioactive beams will fundamentally advance our knowledge of compact objects in the heavens, the dense phases of QCD, the origin of the elements, and of neutron-rich matter.

scholarly journals Detectability of Continuous Gravitational Waves from Magnetically Deformed Neutron Stars

Galaxies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Jacopo Soldateschi ◽  
Niccolò Bucciantini
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Neutron Star ◽  
Equation Of State ◽  
Magnetic Fields ◽  
Neutron Stars ◽  
Gravitational Waves ◽  
Nuclear Physics ◽  
Equations Of State ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Neutron stars are known to contain extremely powerful magnetic fields. Their effect is to deform the shape of the star, leading to the potential emission of continuous gravitational waves. The magnetic deformation of neutron stars, however, depends on the geometry and strength of their internal magnetic field as well as on their composition, described by the equation of state. Unfortunately, both the configuration of the magnetic field and the equation of state of neutron stars are unknown, and assessing the detectability of continuous gravitational waves from neutron stars suffers from these uncertainties. Using our recent results relating the magnetic deformation of a neutron star to its mass and radius—based on models with realistic equations of state currently allowed by observational and nuclear physics constraints—and considering the Galactic pulsar population, we assess the detectability of continuous gravitational waves from pulsars in the galaxy by current and future gravitational waves detectors.

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