Universal Relations for Neutron Star F-Mode and G-Mode Oscillations

TL;DR

This paper investigates universal relations for neutron star oscillation modes, particularly f- and g-modes, exploring their correlations, deviations, and potential as probes for phase transitions in hybrid stars.

Contribution

It refines universal relations for neutron star oscillation modes using advanced EOS models and identifies new hybrid star oscillation features and their observational implications.

Findings

Universal relations apply to self-bound and hybrid stars.

Discovery of a 1-node f-mode branch in low-mass hybrid stars.

g-mode frequencies are sensitive to phase transition properties and have upper bounds.

Abstract

Among the various oscillation modes of neutron stars, f- and g- modes are the most likely to be ultimately observed in binary neutron star mergers. The f-mode is known to correlate in normal neutron stars with their tidal deformability, moment of inertia and quadrupole moment. Using a piecewise polytropic parameterization scheme to model the uncertain hadronic high-density EOS and a constant sound-speed scheme to model pure quark matter, we refine this correlation and show that these universal relations also apply to both self-bound stars and hybrid stars containing phase transitions. We identify a novel 1-node branch of the f-mode that occurs in low-mass hybrid stars in a narrow mass range just beyond the critical mass necessary for a phase transition to appear. This 1-node branch shows the largest, but still small, deviations from the universal correlation we have found. The g-mode frequency only exists in matter with a non-barotropic equation of state involving temperature, chemical potential or composition, or a phase transition in barotropic matter. The g-mode therefore could serve as a probe for studying phase transitions in hybrid stars. In contrast with the f-mode, discontinuity g-mode frequencies depend strongly on properties of the transition (the density and the magnitude of the discontinuity) at the transition. Imposing causality and maximum mass constraints, the g-mode frequency in hybrid stars is found to have an upper bound of about 1.25 kHz. However, if the sound speed c_s in the inner core at densities above the phase transition density is restricted to c_s^2 < c^2/3, the g-mode frequencies can only reach about 0.8 kHz, which are significantly lower than f-mode frequencies, 1.3-2.8 kHz. Also, g-mode gravitational wave damping times are extremely long, >10^4 s (10^2 s) in the inner core with c_s^2< c^{2/3} (c^2), in comparison with the f-mode damping time, 0.1-1 s.