Lunch talk on Sep. 1, 2025

Probing dense matter in neutron stars with gravitational wave: Limitations and Prospects

Speaker: Zhenyu Zhu (Rochester Institute of Technology)

Venue: SWIFAR Building 2111

Time: 12:45 PM, Monday, Sep. 1, 2025

Abstract: 

Gravitational wave (GW) observations provide a new and promising way to investigate the dense matter of neutron stars. Information of matter is encoded in the tidal deformability of neutron stars, which can be extracted by analyzing the inspiral gravitational waveform of binary neutron star merger. The upcoming 3rd-generation GW detectors will enable highly accurate measurement of tidal deformability and the equation of state. However, intrinsic degeneracies impeded a deeper understanding of dense matter. I this talk, I will demonstrate how these degeneracies limit further constraints on the properties of dense matter. Moreover, I will also discuss a theoretical framework of separating the degenerate and non-degenerate components of the matter effects, as well as a promising approach for determining the contribution of the degenerate part.

Report PPT:  SWIFAR_Zhenyu Zhu.pdf