The impact of hyperons on neutron star mergers: gravitational waves, mass ejection and black hole formation

TL;DR

This study investigates how hyperons influence neutron star mergers, affecting gravitational wave signals, mass ejection, and black hole formation, with potential observational signatures to identify hyperonic matter.

Contribution

The paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of hyperons' effects on merger observables using 14 temperature-dependent EoS models in relativistic simulations.

Findings

Hyperons increase the postmerger GW frequency by a few percent.

Hyperonic models show a characteristic shift in secondary GW spectral features.

Hyperonic EoSs reduce the threshold mass for prompt black hole formation by about 0.05 solar masses.

Abstract

We study the influence of hyperons in binary neutron star (NS) mergers considering a total of 14 temperature dependent equations of state (EoSs) models which include hyperonic degrees of freedom and partly delta resonances. Thermally produced hyperons induce a higher heat capacity and a lower thermal index, i.e. a reduced thermal pressure for a given amount of thermal energy, compared to purely nucleonic models. We run a large set of relativistic hydrodynamics simulations of NS mergers to explore the impact on observables of these events. In symmetric binaries, we describe a characteristic increase of the dominant postmerger gravitational-wave (GW) frequency by a few per cent, which is specifically linked to the occurrence of hyperons and can thus be potentially used as a discriminator between purely nucleonic and hyperonic systems. We corroborate that this effect occurs similarly for asymmetric binaries and becomes more prominent with increasing total binary mass. Hyperonic models tend to stick out in relations between the dominant postmerger GW frequency and the tidal deformability of massive stars providing a signature to identify the presence of hyperons. Distinct secondary postmerger GW spectral features are differently affected by the presence of hyperons, in the sense that one feature exhibits a characteristic frequency shift due to the specific thermal properties of hyperonic EoSs while the other does not. The dynamical mass ejection of mergers is tentatively enhanced for hyperonic models in comparison to nucleonic EoSs which yield roughly the same stellar properties of cold NSs. This may serve useful to identify exotic degrees of freedom in these systems by kilonova observations. Also, for hyperonic EoSs the threshold mass for prompt black hole formation is reduced by about 0.05 $M_{\odot}$ in comparison to nucleonic systems with the same stellar parameters of cold NSs.