The influence of differential rotation on the detectability of gravitational waves from the r-mode instability

TL;DR

This paper studies how differential rotation affects the likelihood of detecting gravitational waves from r-mode instabilities in neutron stars, suggesting detection is feasible if differential rotation is moderate.

Contribution

It introduces the impact of differential rotation on gravitational wave detectability from r-modes, highlighting conditions for successful observation with LIGO.

Findings

Detection possible with LIGO if differential rotation is not very high.

Differential rotation influences the amplitude and duration of gravitational wave signals.

Neutron star spin-down due to r-modes is affected by differential rotation.

Abstract

Recently, it was shown that differential rotation is an unavoidable feature of nonlinear r-modes. We investigate the influence of this differential rotation on the detectability of gravitational waves emitted by a newly born, hot, rapidly-rotating neutron star, as it spins down due to the r-mode instability. We conclude that gravitational radiation may be detected by the advanced laser interferometer detector LIGO if the amount of differential rotation at the time the r-mode instability becomes active is not very high.