Bowen-York Type Initial Data for Binaries with Neutron Stars

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method for generating initial data for binary neutron star systems, extending the Bowen-York puncture approach used for black holes, and demonstrates its effectiveness through numerical evolutions.

Contribution

It generalizes the Bowen-York initial data method to neutron star binaries, enabling more accurate and flexible initial configurations based on post-Newtonian inputs.

Findings

Successfully constructed initial data for neutron star binaries

Evolved the data to demonstrate stable quasi-circular orbits

Validated the method's effectiveness with numerical simulations

Abstract

A new approach to construct initial data for binary systems with neutron star components is introduced. The approach is a generalization of the puncture initial data method for binary black holes based on Bowen-York solutions to the momentum constraint. As with binary black holes, the method allows setting orbital configurations with direct input from post-Newtonian approximations and involves solving only the Hamiltonian constraint. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated with evolutions of double neutron star and black hole -- neutron star binaries in quasi-circular orbits.