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arXiv · 2006.14936

Parameter estimation for strong phase transitions in supranuclear matter using gravitational-wave astronomy

Peter T. H. Pang·Tim Dietrich·Ingo Tews·Chris Van Den Broeck
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Abstract

At supranuclear densities, explored in the core of neutron stars, a strong phase transition from hadronic matter to more exotic forms of matter might be present. To test this hypothesis, binary neutron-star mergers offer a unique possibility to probe matter at densities that we can not create in any existing terrestrial experiment. In this work, we show that, if present, strong phase transitions can have a measurable imprint on the binary neutron-star coalescence and the emitted gravitational-wave signal. We construct a new parameterization of the supranuclear equation of state that allows us to test for the existence of a strong phase transition and extract its characteristic properties purely from the gravitational-wave signal of the inspiraling neutron stars. We test our approach using a Bayesian inference study simulating 600 signals with three different equations of state and find that for current gravitational-wave detector networks already twelve events might be sufficient to verify the presence of a strong phase transition. Finally, we use our methodology to analyze GW170817 and GW190425, but do not find any indication that a strong phase transition is present at densities probed during the inspiral.

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Peter T. H. Pang, Tim Dietrich, Ingo Tews, Chris Van Den Broeck. 2020-06-26. Parameter estimation for strong phase transitions in supranuclear matter using gravitational-wave astronomy. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.2.033514

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