Tidal effects in eccentric coalescing neutron star binaries

Abstract

Dynamically formed compact object binaries may still be eccentric while in the LIGO/Virgo band. For a neutron star (NS) in an eccentric binary, the fundamental modes (f-modes) are excited at pericenter, transferring energy from the orbit to oscillations in the NS. We model this system by coupling the evolution of the NS f-modes to the orbital evolution of the binary as it circularizes and moves toward coalescence. NS f-mode excitation generally speeds up the orbital decay and advances the phase of the gravitational wave signal from the system. We calculate how this effect changes the timing of pericenter passages and examine how the cumulative phase shift before merger depends on the initial eccentricity of the system. This phase shift can be much larger for highly eccentric mergers than for circular mergers, and can be used to probe the NS equation of state.