Inferring the maximum and minimum mass of merging neutron stars with gravitational waves

Abstract

We show that the maximum and the minimum mass of merging neutron stars can be estimated with upcoming gravitational wave observations. We simulate populations of binary neutron star signals and model their mass distribution including upper and lower cutoffs. The lower(upper) limit can be measured to $\sim 0.2(0.1){\text{M}}_{\odot }$ with $50$ detections if the mass distribution supports neutron stars with masses close to the cutoffs. The upper mass limit informs about the high density properties of the neutron star equation of state, while the lower limit signals the divide between neutron stars and white dwarfs.

6 pages, 3 figures

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Cited by in corpus (21)

• GWTC-3: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the Second Part of the Third Observing Run
• Impact of the PSR J0740+6620 radius constraint on the properties of high-density matter
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• Implicit correlations within phenomenological parametric models of the neutron star equation of state
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• Linking the rates of neutron star binaries and short gamma-ray bursts
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• Inferring the neutron star maximum mass and lower mass gap in neutron star-black hole systems with spin
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• Mock data study for next-generation ground-based detectors: The performance loss of matched filtering due to correlated confusion noise
• The population of merging compact binaries inferred using gravitational waves through GWTC-3
• Gravitational waves carry information beyond effective spin parameters but it is hard to extract
• Using Equation of State Constraints to Classify Low-Mass Compact Binary Mergers
• The interplay of astrophysics and nuclear physics in determining the properties of neutron stars
• The effect of spin mismodeling on gravitational-wave measurements of the binary neutron star mass distribution
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• Neutrino signals from Neutron Star implosions to Black Holes
• Exploring the Potential for Detecting Rotational Instabilities in Binary Neutron Star Merger Remnants with Gravitational Wave Detectors