Gravitational waves and neutrino emission from the merger of binary neutron stars

Abstract

Numerical simulations for the merger of binary neutron stars are performed in full general relativity incorporating a finite-temperature (Shen's) equation of state (EOS) and neutrino cooling for the first time. It is found that for this stiff EOS, a hypermassive neutron star (HMNS) with a long lifetime ($\gg 10$ ms) is the outcome for the total mass $\alt 3.0M_{\odot}$. It is shown that the typical total neutrino luminosity of the HMNS is $\sim 3$--$8\times 10^{53}$ ergs/s and the effective amplitude of gravitational waves from the HMNS is 4--$6 \times 10^{-22}$ at $f=2.1$--2.5 kHz for a source distance of 100 Mpc. We also present the neutrino luminosity curve when a black hole is formed for the first time.

4 pages, 4 figures (Fig.2 is in low resolution), Accepted for publication in PRL