2021/01/22 by Antonios Nathanail, Elias R. Most, Luciano Rezzolla
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Binary number #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #General relativity #Gravitational wave #Mathematical physics #Neutron star #Parameter space #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Star (game theory) #Statistics #astro-ph.HE #gr-qc #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abdfc6
added references and minor changes; version accepted by ApJL
arxiv created 2021/01/22 · openalex publication_date 2021/02/01 · arxiv updated 2021/03/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract The detection of the binary events GW170817 and GW190814 has provided invaluable constraints on the maximum mass of nonrotating configurations of neutron stars, M TOV . However, the large differences in the neutron-star masses measured in GW170817 and GW190814 has also lead to significant tension between the predictions for such maximum masses, with GW170817 suggesting that M TOV ≲ 2.3 M ⊙ , and GW190814 requiring M TOV ≳ 2.5 M ⊙ if the secondary was a (non- or slowly rotating) neutron star at merger. Using a genetic algorithm, we sample the multidimensional space of parameters spanned by gravitational-wave and astronomical observations associated with GW170817. Consistent with previous estimates, we find that all of the physical quantities are in agreement with the observations if the maximum mass is in the range of within a 2 σ confidence level. By contrast, maximum masses with M TOV ≳ 2.5 M ⊙ , not only require efficiencies in the gravitational-wave emission that are well above the numerical-relativity estimates, but they also lead to a significant underproduction of the ejected mass. Hence, the tension can be released by assuming that the secondary in GW190814 was a black hole at merger, although it could have been a rotating neutron star before.