Coalescing Binary Neutron Stars

TL;DR

This paper reviews theoretical and numerical studies of gravitational wave signals from coalescing neutron star and black hole binaries, highlighting recent progress and limitations in modeling their inspiral and merger phases.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of analytic and numerical methods used to model gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences, emphasizing recent developments in the field.

Findings

Analytic Post-Newtonian waveforms for inspiral phases.

Numerical simulations of neutron star mergers.

Summary of the strengths and limitations of current models.

Abstract

Coalescing compact binaries with neutron star or black hole components provide the most promising sources of gravitational radiation for detection by the LIGO/VIRGO/GEO/TAMA laser interferometers now under construction. This fact has motivated several different theoretical studies of the inspiral and hydrodynamic merging of compact binaries. Analytic analyses of the inspiral waveforms have been performed in the Post-Newtonian approximation. Analytic and numerical treatments of the coalescence waveforms from binary neutron stars have been performed using Newtonian hydrodynamics and the quadrupole radiation approximation. Numerical simulations of coalescing black hole and neutron star binaries are also underway in full general relativity. Recent results from each of these approaches will be described and their virtues and limitations summarized.