Modelling neutron star mountains in relativity

Understand

Rapidly spinning, deformed neutron stars have long been considered potential gravitational-wave emitters.

• However, so far only upper limits on the size of the involved quadrupole deformations have been obtained.
• For this reason, it is pertinent to ask how large a mountain can be before the neutron star crust fractures.
• This is the question we consider in this paper, which describes how mountains can be calculated in relativistic gravity.