Mergers of binary neutron stars with realistic spin

Abstract

Simulations of binary neutron stars have seen great advances in terms of physical detail and numerical quality. However, the spin of the neutron stars, one of the simplest global parameters of binaries, remains mostly unstudied. We present the first fully nonlinear general relativistic dynamical evolutions of the last three orbits for constraint-satisfying initial data of spinning neutron star binaries, with astrophysically realistic spins aligned and antialigned to the orbital angular momentum. The initial data are computed with the constant rotational velocity approach. The dynamics of the systems is analyzed in terms of gauge-invariant binding energy vs orbital angular momentum curves. By comparing to a binary black hole configuration, we can estimate the different tidal and spin contributions to the binding energy for the first time. First results on the gravitational waveforms are presented. The phase evolution during the orbital motion is significantly affected by spin-orbit interactions, leading to delayed or early mergers. Furthermore, a frequency shift in the main emission mode of the hypermassive neutron star is observed. Our results suggest that a detailed modeling of merger waveforms requires the inclusion of spin, even for the moderate magnitudes observed in binary neutron star systems.