Abstract
Recent numerical simulations in general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) provide useful constraints for the interpretation of the GW170817 discovery. Combining the observed data with these simulations leads to a bound on the maximum mass of a cold, spherical neutron star (the TOV limit): , where is the ratio of the maximum mass of a uniformly rotating neutron star (the supramassive limit) over the maximum mass of a nonrotating star. Causality arguments allow to be as high as 1.27, while most realistic candidate equations of state predict to be closer to 1.2, yielding in the range . A minimal set of assumptions based on these simulations distinguishes this analysis from previous ones, but leads a to similar estimate. There are caveats, however, and they are enumerated and discussed. The caveats can be removed by further simulations and analysis to firm up the basic argument.
- Received 1 November 2017
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.97.021501
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