Astrophysical Implications of Neutron Star Inspiral and Coalescence

Understand

The first inspiral of two neutron stars observed in gravitational waves was remarkably close, allowing the kind of simultaneous gravitational wave and electromagnetic observation that had not been expected for several years.

• Their merger, followed by a gamma-ray burst and a kilonova, was observed across the spectral bands of electromagnetic telescopes.
• These GW and electromagnetic observations have led to dramatic advances in understanding short gamma-ray bursts; determining the origin of the heaviest elements; and determining the maximum mass of neutron stars.
• From the imprint of tides on the gravitational waveforms and from observations of X-ray binaries, one can extract the radius and deformability of inspiraling neutron stars.