When neutron stars merge the result is usually a black hole. But sometimes its a more massive, stable neutron star.
Neutron stars are the collapsed cores of supermassive giant stars that contain between 10 and 25 solar masses. Aside from black holes, they are the densest objects in the Universe. Their journey from a main sequence star to a collapsed stellar remnant is a fascinating scientific story.When two NS merge, a remnant is created that either becomes a black hole or a neutron star, with the black hole being the most common result. But the eventual remnant is just part of the story.
The authors say that this is the first ab-initio study into NS mergers. Ab-initio means ‘from the beginning’ in Latin. It means that their simulations are based directly on the fundamental laws of nature and don’t include empirical data. These types of simulations require extremely high levels of computing power, but the payoff is in their predictive power. Ab-initio studies can reveal aspects of complex systems that are extremely difficult to study experimentally.
The first phase of a neutron star merger, after the inspiral, is the gravitational wave phase. It lasts until about 20 milliseconds after the merger. By releasing GWs, the neutron star releases some of the merger’s energy. A neutron star merger usually creates a black hole remnant. But sometimes, it creates another neutron star called an RMNS, or remnant massive neutron star.
Some research shows that merging NSs are the sources of short gamma-ray bursts But for that to happen, the magnetic field needs to somehow escape the remnant and form larger magnetic fields. “If RMNSs are a viable central engine for SGRBs, then the field needs somehow to bubble out of the remnant and form large-scale magnetic structures,” the authors write. But the RMNS’s stability seems to rule that out.
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