Coalescing Black Hole-Neutron Star Binaries as Short Gamma-Ray Burst Progenitors and Sources of Gravitational Radiation

by Dr Francesco Pannarale (AEI Potsdam (Germania))

Monday 16 May 2011, 15:00 → 16:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Conversi (Dip. di Fisica - Edificio G. Marconi)

Black hole (BH) - neutron star (NS) binary systems are a primary target for gravitational wave (GW) searches and leading short gamma-ray burst (SGRB) progenitors candidates. If, at the end of the life of the binary, the NS is disrupted, a torus of hot, dense matter orbiting the BH may be formed; neutrino annihilation may then power the SGRB. The torus mass is a key element of this yet unverified scenario; currently, however, numerical simulations are unable to robustly cover the large space of parameters when predicting such masses. We therefore developed a model that allows a first reasonable coverage. We find that large tori masses are favoured by high BH spins and low BH masses and NS compactnesses. We moreover examine the GW signals emitted by BH-NS binaries during their inspiral phase and consider whether information about the NS equation of state may be deduced from their detection.