Testing the formation scenarios of binary neutron star systems with measurements of the neutron star moment of inertia

Abstract

Two low mass neutron stars, J0737-3039B and the companion to J1756-2251, show strong evidence of being formed from the collapse of an ONeMg core in an electron capture supernova (ECSN) or in an ultra-stripped iron core collapse supernova (FeCCSN). Using three different systematically generated sets of equations of state we explore the relationship between the moment of inertia of J0737-3039A and the binding energy of the two low mass neutron stars. We find this relationship, a less strict variant of the recently discovered I-Love-Q relations, is nevertheless more robust than a previously explored correlation between the binding energy and the slope of the nuclear symmetry energy L. We find that, if either J0737-3039B or the J1756-2251 companion were formed in an ECSN, no more than 0.06 solar masses could have been lost from the progenitor core, more than four times the mass loss predicted by current supernova modeling. A measurement of the moment of inertia of J0737-3039A to within 10% accuracy from pulsar timing, possible within a decade, can discriminate between formation scenarios such as ECSN or ultra-stripped FeCCSN and, given current constraints on the predicted core mass loss, potentially rule them out. Using the I-Love-Q relations we find that an Advanced LIGO can potentially measure the neutron star tidal polarizability to equivalent accuracy in a neutron star-neutron star merger at a distance of 200 Mpc, thus obtaining similar constraints on the formation scenarios. Such information on the occurrence of ECSNe is important for population synthesis calculations, especially for estimating the rate of binary neutron star mergers and resulting electromagnetic and gravitational wave signals. Further progress needs to be made modeling the core collapse process that leads to low-mass neutron stars, particularly in making robust predictions for the mass loss from the progenitor core.