Successful Common Envelope Ejection and Binary Neutron Star Formation in 3D Hydrodynamics

Understand

A binary neutron star merger has been observed in a multi-messenger detection of gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) radiation.

• Binary neutron stars that merge within a Hubble time, as well as many other compact binaries, are expected to form via common envelope evolution.
• Yet five decades of research on common envelope evolution have not yet resulted in a satisfactory understanding of the multi-spatial multi-timescale evolution for the systems that lead to compact binaries.
• In this paper, we report on the first successful simulations of common envelope ejection leading to binary neutron star formation in 3D hydrodynamics.