Constraining the neutron-matter equation of state with gravitational waves

Michael McNeil Forbes, Sukanta Bose, Sanjay Reddy, Dake Zhou, Arunava Mukherjee, and Soumi De
Phys. Rev. D 100, 083010 – Published 15 October 2019
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Abstract

We show how observations of gravitational waves from binary neutron star (BNS) mergers over the next few years can be combined with insights from nuclear physics to obtain useful constraints on the equation of state (EoS) of dense matter. In particular, the neutron-matter EoS between 1 and 2 times the nuclear saturation density n00.16fm3 can be constrained to within 20%, given the simulated data from about 15 merger events. Using Fisher information methods, we combine observational constraints from simulated BNS merger events drawn from various population models with independent measurements of the neutron star radii expected from x-ray astronomy [the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer observations in particular] to directly constrain nuclear physics parameters. To parametrize the nuclear EoS, we use a different approach, expanding from pure nuclear matter rather than from symmetric nuclear matter to make use of recent quantum Monte Carlo calculations. This method eschews the need to invoke the so-called parabolic approximation to extrapolate from symmetric nuclear matter, allowing us to directly constrain the neutron-matter EoS. Using a principal component analysis, we identify the combination of parameters most tightly constrained by observational data. We discuss sensitivity to various effects such as different component masses through population-model sensitivity, phase transitions in the core EoS, and large deviations from the central parameter values.

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  • Received 6 May 2019
  • Revised 1 September 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.100.083010

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsNuclear Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Michael McNeil Forbes1,2,*, Sukanta Bose1,3,†, Sanjay Reddy2,4,‡, Dake Zhou2,4,§, Arunava Mukherjee5,6,∥, and Soumi De7,¶

  • 1Department of Physics & Astronomy, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-2814, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA
  • 3Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Post Bag 4, Ganeshkhind, Pune 411 007, India
  • 4Institute for Nuclear Theory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA
  • 5Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert Einstein Institute), D-30167 Hannover, Germany
  • 6Leibniz Universität Hannover, D-30167 Hannover, Germany
  • 7Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA

  • *mforbes@alum.mit.edu
  • sukanta@wsu.edu
  • sareddy@uw.edu
  • §zdk@uw.edu
  • arunava.mukherjee@aei.mpg.de
  • sde101@syr.edu

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Issue

Vol. 100, Iss. 8 — 15 October 2019

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