Gravitational waves and the neutron-star equation of state

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:09090079,
            doi = {10.48660/09090079},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/09090079},
            author = {Friedman, John},
            keywords = {},
            language = {en},
            title = {Gravitational waves and the neutron-star equation of state},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2009},
            month = {sep},
            note = {PIRSA:09090079 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }
          

Abstract

The uncertainty in the equation of state of cold matter above nuclear density is notorious. Despite four decades of neutron-star observations, recent observational estimates of neutron-star radii still range from 8 to 16 km; the pressure above nuclear density is not known to better than a factor of 5; and one cannot yet rule out the possibility that the ground state of cold matter at zero pressure might be strange quark matter -- that the term "neutron star" is a misnomer for strange quark stars. The last few orbits of binary inspiral are sensitive to the stars' distortion, and a major goal of the next generation of gravitational wave detectors is to extract parameters characterizing the high-density equation of state from inspiral waveforms. This talk reports a first study that uses numerical simulations to estimate the accuracy with which the equation of state can be measured.