Highly Eccentric Kozai Mechanism and Gravitational-Wave Observation for Neutron Star Binaries

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the highly eccentric Kozai mechanism influences the evolution of neutron star binaries, affecting their gravitational wave signals and residual eccentricity, which are crucial for future GW observations.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the eccentric evolution of neutron star binaries under the Kozai mechanism, highlighting effects overlooked by secular theory.

Findings

Higher characteristic GW frequencies near pericenter passages.

Larger residual eccentricity at the final inspiral phase.

Implications for gravitational wave detection with advanced detectors.

Abstract

The Kozai mechanism for a hierarchical triple system could reduce the merger time of inner eccentric binary emitting gravitational waves (GWs), and has been qualitatively explained with the secular theory that is derived by averaging short-term orbital revolutions. However, with the secular theory, the minimum value of the inner pericenter distance could be excessively limited by the averaging operation. Compared with traditional predictions, the actual evolution of an eccentric inner binary could be accompanied by (i) a higher characteristic frequency of the pulse-like GWs around its pericenter passages, and (ii) a larger residual eccentricity at its final inspiral phase. These findings would be important for GW astronomy with the forthcoming advanced detectors.