Nonlinear effects in Pulsations of Compact Stars and Gravitational Waves

Abstract

Nonlinear stellar oscillations can be studied by using a multiparameter perturbative approach, which is appropriate for investigating the low and mild nonlinear dynamical regimes. We present the main properties of our perturbative framework for describing, in the time domain, the nonlinear coupling between the radial and nonradial perturbations of spherically symmetric and perfect fluid compact stars. This particular coupling can be described by gauge invariant quantities that obeys a system of partial differential equations with source terms, which are made up of product of first order radial and nonradial perturbations. We report the results of numerical simulations for both the axial and polar coupling perturbations, that exhibit in the stellar dynamics and in the associated gravitational wave signal some interesting nonlinear effects, such as combination harmonics and resonances. In particular, we concentrate on the axial case, where the linear axial perturbations describe a harmonic component of a differentially rotating neutron star. The gravitational wave signal of this stellar configuration mirrors at second perturbative order the spectral features of the linear radial normal modes. In addition, a signal amplification appears when one of the radial frequencies is close to the axial w-mode frequencies of the star.