On the Stability of Anisotropic Neutron Stars

TL;DR

This study investigates the stability and oscillation properties of anisotropic neutron stars using various models and equations of state, revealing how pressure anisotropy influences maximum mass, stability thresholds, and potential gravitational-wave signatures.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of anisotropic neutron star stability with multiple models and equations of state, challenging traditional stability criteria and exploring gravitational-wave implications.

Findings

Anisotropy can increase maximum stable mass by up to 30%.

Standard turning-point criterion may not reliably predict instability in anisotropic stars.

Highly compact anisotropic stars can mimic black hole ringdowns and produce gravitational-wave echoes.

Abstract

We model anisotropic neutron stars using three distinct prescriptions for pressure anisotropy, the Horvat, Bowers-Liang, and Covariant models, and three equations of state with different particle compositions, each described by a piecewise polytropic parametrization with continuous sound speed. The stability of these configurations is assessed through their dynamical evolution using a fully non-linear relativistic code. For stable configurations, we compute the oscillation spectrum and identify the fundamental mode frequency. We found that, while the isotropic and Horvat models become unstable close to the maximum-mass point, the Bowers-Liang and Covariant models become unstable at lower central densities, indicating that the standard turning-point criterion may not reliably predict the onset of dynamical instability in anisotropic stars. Based on our results, we also determine the neutral-stability line and verify that configurations lying to the right of this line are indeed unstable under radial perturbations and collapse. Overall, given an equation of state, pressure anisotropy can increase the maximum mass of an stable configuration by up to ~30 % compared to the isotropic case. It also allows for more compact stable configurations that may collapse on longer timescales once they become unstable. Finally, we show that these compact stars could initially mimic a black hole's gravitational-wave ringdown. However, the production of subsequent echoes is not guaranteed by high compactness; instead, it depends critically on the star's specific internal structure and equation of state.