Tidal Effects in Eccentric Coalescing Neutron Star Binaries

Understand

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.