Gravitational waves from perturbed stars

TL;DR

This paper explores how gravitational waves emitted by perturbed neutron stars reveal their internal structure, using a resonant scattering approach that uncovers links to quantum mechanics and predicts new relativistic effects.

Contribution

It introduces a novel formulation of stellar perturbation theory as a resonant scattering problem, revealing unexpected quantum-like correspondences and predicting new relativistic phenomena.

Findings

Characteristic frequencies encode internal star structure

Resonant scattering approach links stellar perturbations to quantum mechanics

Predicts new relativistic effects in gravitational wave emission

Abstract

Non radial oscillations of neutron stars are associated with the emission of gravitational waves. The characteristic frequencies of these oscillations can be computed using the theory of stellar perturbations, and they are shown to carry detailed information on the internal structure of the emitting source. Moreover, they appear to be encoded in various radiative processes, as for instance in the tail of the giant flares of Soft Gamma Repeaters. Thus, their determination is central to the theory of stellar perturbation. A viable approach to the problem consists in formulating this theory as a problem of resonant scattering of gravitational waves incident on the potential barrier generated by the spacetime curvature. This approach discloses some unexpected correspondences between the theory of stellar perturbations and the theory of quantum mechanics, and allows us to predict new relativistic effects.