Measuring neutron star radius with second and third generation gravitational wave detector networks

Journal Article · 15 October 2024 · Classical and Quantum Gravity

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6382/ad828a · OSTI ID:2476007

Bandopadhyay, Ananya  ^[1]; Kacanja, Keisi  ^[1]; Somasundaram, Rahul  ^[2]; Nitz, Alexander H.  ^[1]; Brown, Duncan A.  ^[1]

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1. Syracuse Univ., NY (United States)
2. Syracuse Univ., NY (United States); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

The next generation of ground-based interferometric gravitational wave detectors will observe mergers of black holes and neutron stars throughout cosmic time. A large number of the binary neutron star merger events will be observed with extreme high fidelity, and will provide stringent constraints on the equation of state of nuclear matter. In this paper, we investigate the systematic improvement in the measurability of the equation of state with increase in detector sensitivity by combining constraints obtained on the radius of a 1.4 M_⊙ neutron star from a simulated source population. Since the measurability of the equation of state depends on its stiffness, we consider a range of realistic equations of state that span the current observational constraints. We show that a single 40 km Cosmic Explorer detector can pin down the neutron star radius for a soft, medium and stiff equation of state with a precision of 10 m within a decade, whereas the current generation of ground-based detectors like the Advanced LIGO-Virgo network would take $$\mathcal{O}(10_5)$$ years to do so for a soft equation of state.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Grant/Contract Number: 89233218CNA000001
• OSTI ID: 2476007
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--24-21031
• Journal Information: Classical and Quantum Gravity, Journal Name: Classical and Quantum Gravity Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 41; ISSN 0264-9381
• Publisher: IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English