TY  - JOUR
A1  - Pang, Peter Tsun Ho
A1  - Dietrich, Tim
A1  - Tews, Ingo
A1  - Van Den Broeck, Chris
T1  - Parameter estimation for strong phase transitions in supranuclear matter using gravitational-wave astronomy
JF  - Physical review research
N2  - At supranuclear densities, explored in the core of neutron stars, a strong phase transition from hadronic matter to more exotic forms of matter might be present. To test this hypothesis, binary neutron-star mergers offer a unique possibility to probe matter at densities that we cannot create in any existing terrestrial experiment. In this work, we show that, if present, strong phase transitions can have a measurable imprint on the binary neutron-star coalescence and the emitted gravitational-wave signal. We construct a new parametrization of the supranuclear equation of state that allows us to test for the existence of a strong phase transition and extract its characteristic properties purely from the gravitational-wave signal of the inspiraling neutron stars. We test our approach using a Bayesian inference study simulating 600 signals with three different equations of state and find that for current gravitational-wave detector networks already 12 events might be sufficient to verify the presence of a strong phase transition. Finally, we use our methodology to analyze GW170817 and GW190425 but do not find any indication that a strong phase transition is present at densities probed during the inspiral.
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.033514
SN  - 2643-1564
VL  - 2
IS  - 3
PB  - American Physical Society
CY  - College Park
ER  -