The remnants of NS mergers: inferences and implications
- Speaker: Dr Ben Margalit
- Start Time:
- End Time:
- Location: Zoom
- Type: Lunch Talk
The advent of gravitational-wave detectors has prompted a new era in astrophysics, and has for the first time allowed direct observation of binary neutron stars (NSs) in the process of merging. The fate and nature of the merged remnant (either a NS or a black hole) is, in general, an open question. In this talk I will review a number of different approaches that have been used in recent years to constrain and infer properties of the post-merger remnant. In particular, I will discuss how electromagnetic observations of GW170817 and late-time radio follow-up of short gamma-ray bursts can shed light on this question, and how these inferences can be utilized to probe the (uncertain) equation-of-state of cold dense matter.
