Megahertz Gravitational Waves from Neutron Star Mergers

Abstract

Neutron star mergers provide a unique laboratory for the study of strong-field gravity coupled to quantum chromodynamics in extreme conditions. The frequencies and amplitudes of the resulting gravitational waves encode invaluable information about the merger. Simulations to date have shown that these frequencies lie in the kilohertz range. They have also shown that, if quantum chromodynamics possesses a first-order phase transition at high baryon density, then this is likely to be accessed during the merger dynamics. Here we show that this would result in the nucleation of superheated and/or supercompressed bubbles whose subsequent dynamics would produce gravitational waves in the megahertz range. We estimate the amplitude of this signal and compare it to the sensitivity of planned future detectors.