Observational consequences of binary neutron star merger remnants

Wednesday June 17th 2020 @12pm, Zoom Colloquium
Nikhil Sarin Monash University

Email: nikhil.sarin@monash.edu

Abstract

The first neutron star merger observed with gravitational waves and in electromagnetic radiation confirmed that binary neutron star mergers are the progenitors of at least some short gamma-ray bursts. The multi-messenger observations have been used to a probe a lot of fundamental physics, however, despite the wealth of observations the fate of the remnant of GW170817 is still uncertain. I will give an overview of binary neutron star mergers focussing on the nature of the remnant from observations of short gamma-ray bursts and theoretical considerations. I will discuss the implications of these observations on the nuclear equation of state, neutron star dynamics and gamma-ray bursts.