Prompt merger collapse and the maximum mass of neutron stars.

We perform hydrodynamical simulations of neutron-star mergers for a large sample of temperature-dependent nuclear equations of state and determine the threshold mass above which the merger remnant promptly collapses to form a black hole. We find that, depending on the equation of state, the threshold mass is larger than the maximum mass of a nonrotating star in isolation by between 30 and 70 percent. Our simulations also show that the ratio between the threshold mass and maximum mass is tightly correlated with the compactness of the nonrotating maximum-mass configuration. We speculate on how this relation can be used to derive constraints on neutron-star properties from future observations.

New fission fragment distributions and r-process origin of the rare-earth elements.

Neutron star (NS) merger ejecta offer a viable site for the production of heavy r-process elements with nuclear mass numbers A≳140. The crucial role of fission recycling is responsible for the robustness of this site against many astrophysical uncertainties, but calculations sensitively depend on nuclear physics. In particular, the fission fragment yields determine the creation of 110≲A≲170 nuclei. Here, we apply a new scission-point model, called SPY, to derive the fission fragment distribution (FFD) of all relevant neutron-rich, fissioning nuclei. The model predicts a doubly asymmetric FFD in the abundant A≃278 mass region that is responsible for the final recycling of the fissioning material. Using ejecta conditions based on relativistic NS merger calculations, we show that this specific FFD leads to a production of the A≃165 rare-earth peak that is nicely compatible with the abundance patterns in the Sun and metal-poor stars. This new finding further strengthens the case of NS mergers as possible dominant origin of r nuclei with A≳140.

Measuring neutron-star properties via gravitational waves from neutron-star mergers.

We demonstrate by a large set of merger simulations for symmetric binary neutron stars (NSs) that there is a tight correlation between the frequency peak of the postmerger gravitational-wave (GW) emission and the physical properties of the nuclear equation of state (EoS), e.g., expressed by the radius of the maximum-mass Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkhoff configuration. Therefore, a single measurement of the peak frequency of the postmerger GW signal will constrain the NS EoS significantly. For optimistic merger-rate estimates a corresponding detection with Advanced LIGO is expected to happen within an operation time of roughly a year.

Mass ejection by strange star mergers and observational implications.

We determine the Galactic production rate of strangelets as a canonical input to calculations of the measurable cosmic ray flux of strangelets by performing simulations of strange star mergers and combining the results with recent estimates of stellar binary populations. We find that the flux depends sensitively on the bag constant of the MIT bag model of QCD and disappears for high values of the bag constant and thus more compact strange stars. In the latter case, strange stars could coexist with ordinary neutron stars as they are not converted by the capture of cosmic ray strangelets. An unambiguous detection of an ordinary neutron star would then not rule out the strange matter hypothesis.