Resonant Shattering Flares as Multimessenger Probes of the Nuclear Symmetry Energy
Transient Astrophysics
Duncan
Neill
Date Submitted
2021-04-27 00:00:00
University of Bath
D. Neill (University of Bath), W. Newton (Texas A&M University-Commerce), D. Tsang (University of Bath)
The behaviour of the nuclear symmetry energy near saturation density is important for our understanding of dense nuclear matter. This density dependence can be parameterised by the nuclear symmetry energy and its derivatives evaluated at nuclear saturation density. In our work we have found that the quadrupole (ℓ=2) core-crust interface mode of a neutron star is sensitive to these parameters, through the (density-weighted) shear-speed within the crust, which is in turn dependent on the symmetry energy profile of dense matter. We have calculated the frequency at which the neutron star crust-core interface mode must be driven by the tidal field of its binary partner to trigger a Resonant Shattering Flare (RSF). With this, we demonstrate that coincident multimessenger timing of an RSF and gravitational wave chirp from a neutron star merger would enable us to place constraints on the symmetry energy parameters that are competitive with those from current nuclear experiments.
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