Evolution of Highly Eccentric Binary Neutron Stars Including Tidal Effects

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamics of highly eccentric binary neutron stars, focusing on tidal effects and their impact on gravitational waveforms, with the goal of improving detection models for ground-based observatories.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to modeling tidal effects and neutron star oscillations in eccentric binaries, enhancing gravitational waveform predictions.

Findings

Tidal effects can significantly increase orbital energy loss.

Neutron star oscillations influence orbital evolution.

A preliminary waveform model for eccentric binaries is proposed.

Abstract

This work is the first in a series of studies aimed at understanding the dynamics of highly eccentric binary neutron stars, and constructing an appropriate gravitational-waveform model for detection. Such binaries are possible sources for ground-based gravitational wave detectors, and are expected to form through dynamical scattering and multi-body interactions in globular clusters and galactic nuclei. In contrast to black holes, oscillations of neutron stars are generically excited by tidal effects after close pericenter passage. Depending on the equation of state, this can enhance the loss of orbital energy by up to tens of percent over that radiated away by gravitational waves during an orbit. Under the same interaction mechanism, part of the orbital angular momentum is also transferred to the star. We calculate the impact of the neutron star oscillations on the orbital evolution of such systems, and compare these results to full numerical simulations. Utilizing a Post-Newtonian flux description we propose a preliminary model to predict the timing of different pericenter passages. A refined version of this model (taking into account Post-Newtonian corrections to the tidal coupling and the oscillations of the stars) may serve as a waveform model for such highly eccentric systems.