On the delay times of merging double neutron stars

Understand

The merging rate of double neutron stars (DNS) has a great impact on many astrophysical issues, including the interpretation of gravitational waves signals, of the short Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), and of the chemical properties of stars in galaxies.

• Such rate depends on the distribution of the delay times (DDT) of the merging events.
• In this paper we derive a theoretical DDT of merging DNS following from the characteristics of the clock controlling their evolution.
• We show that the shape of the DDT is governed by a few key parameters, primarily the lower limit and the slope of the distribution of the separation of the DNS systems at birth.