R-mode frequencies of rapidly and differentially rotating relativistic neutron stars

TL;DR

This paper studies how rapid and differential rotation affect the r-mode frequencies of neutron stars, which is crucial for gravitational wave detection strategies.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the impact of rapid and differential rotation on r-mode frequencies using numerical evolution of perturbation equations.

Findings

Rotational effects can dominate over relativistic effects in low-compactness stars.

Differential rotation decreases the r-mode frequency, with effects increasing with compactness.

Results aid in optimizing gravitational wave and electromagnetic r-mode searches.

Abstract

R-modes of neutron stars could be a source of gravitational waves for ground based detectors. If the precise frequency $\sigma$ is known, guided gravitational wave searches with enhanced detectability are possible. Because of its physical importance many authors have calculated the r-mode frequency. For the dominant mode, the associated gravitational wave frequency is 4/3 times the angular velocity of the star $\Omega$, subject to various corrections of which relativistic and rotational corrections are the most important. This has led several authors to investigate the dependence of the r-mode frequency on factors such as the relativistic compactness parameter ($M/R$) and the angular velocity of stars with different equations of state. The results found so far, however, are almost independent of the equation of state. Here we investigate the effect of rapid rotation and differential rotation on $\sigma$. We evolve the perturbation equations using the Cowling approximation by applying finite differencing methods to compute the r-mode frequency for a series of rotating neutron stars with polytropic equations of state. We find that rotational effects in the r-mode frequency can be larger than relativistic effects for rapidly spinning stars with low compactness, reducing the observed frequency. Differential rotation also acts to decrease $\sigma$, but its effect inscreases with the compactness. The results presented here are relevant to the design of gravitational wave and electromagnetic r-mode searches.