Robust universal relations in neutron star asteroseismology

TL;DR

This paper investigates universal relations in neutron star asteroseismology, revealing a new correlation between $f$ mode frequencies and radii, and providing insights into neutron star matter composition through oscillation analysis.

Contribution

It demonstrates the robustness of known universal relations and uncovers a new correlation between $f$ mode frequencies and neutron star radii across many realistic EOSs.

Findings

A new universal relation between $f$ mode frequencies and radii.

$f$ mode frequencies for 2.0 M$_ ext{sun}$ NSs are 2-3 kHz.

Low $f$ mode frequency in massive NSs may suggest non-nucleonic matter.

Abstract

The non-radial oscillations of the neutron stars (NSs) have been suggested as a useful tool to probe the composition of neutron star matter (NSM). With this scope in mind, we consider a large number of equations of states (EOSs) that are consistent with nuclear matter properties and pure neutron matter EOS based on a chiral effective field theory (chEFT) calculation for the low densities and perturbative QCD EOS at very high densities. This ensemble of EOSs is also consistent with astronomical observations, gravitational waves in GW170817, mass and radius measurements from Neutron star Interior Composition ExploreR (NICER). We analyze the robustness of known universal relations (URs) among the quadrupolar $f$ mode frequencies, masses and radii with such a large number of EOSs and we find a new UR that results from a strong correlation between the $f$ mode frequencies and the radii of NSs. Such a correlation is very useful in accurately determining the radius from a measurement of $f$ mode frequencies in the near future. We also show that the quadrupolar $f$ mode frequencies of NS of masses 2.0 M$_\odot$ and above lie in the range $\sim$ 2-3 kHz in this ensemble of physically realistic EOSs. A NS of mass 2M$_{\odot}$ with a low $f$ mode frequency may indicate the existence of non-nucleonic degrees of freedom.