Close

Presentation

Focus Session
:
Binary Neutron Stars: Einstein's Richest Laboratory
Event Type
Focus Session
Passes
Tags
Exascale Systems
Parallel Algorithms
Parallel Applications
Scientific Software Development
TimeWednesday, June 27th8:30am - 9am
LocationPanorama 3
DescriptionI will argue that if black holes represent one the most fascinating implications of Einstein's theory of gravity, neutron stars in binary system are arguably its richest laboratory, where gravity blends with astrophysics and particle physics. I will discuss how new numerical techniques and larger supercomputing resources have allowed for the rapid recent progress made in modelling these systems. In particular, I will show how the inspiral and merger of a binary system of neutron stars is
more than a strong source of gravitational waves. Indeed, while the gravitational signal can provide tight constraints on the equation of state for matter at nuclear densities, the formation of a black-hole--torus system can explain much of the phenomenology of short gamma-ray bursts, while the the ejection of matter during the merger can shed light on the chemical enrichment of the universe.