The onset of instability of a BH-NS binary is determined by the interplay of the binary mass-ratio, NS
compactness, and BH spin, with the first of these playing the largest role (see Figures 13 – 15 of [302] and
the summary in [284]). In general, systems with high BH masses and/or more compact NSs tend to reach a
minimum in the binding energy as the radius increases, leading to a dynamical orbital instability that
occurs near the classical innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO). In these cases, the NS plunges toward the
BH before the onset of tidal disruption, and is typically “swallowed whole”. leaving behind almost no
material to form a disk. The GW emission from such systems is sharply curtailed after the merger event,
yielding only a low-amplitude, high-frequency, rapidly-decaying “ringdown” signal (see, e.g., [154
]).
Numerical calculations have shown that even in borderline cases between dynamical instability and
mass-shedding the NS is essentially swallowed whole, especially in cases where the BH in either
non-spinning or spinning in the retrograde direction, which pushes the ISCO out to larger radii (see,
e.g., [290
, 289
, 283
, 91
, 94
]).
A richer set of phenomena occurs when the BH-NS mass ratio is closer to unity, the NS is less
compact, the BH has a prograde spin direction, or more generally, some combination of those
factors. In such cases, the NS will reach the mass-shedding limit prior to dynamical instability,
and be tidally disrupted. Unlike what was described in semi-analytic Newtonian models (see,
e.g., [68, 228, 77]) and seen in some early Newtonian and quasi-relativistic simulations (see,
e.g., [165, 166, 138], stable mass transfer, in which angular momentum transfer via mass-shedding
halts the inspiral, has never been seen in full GR calculations, nor even in approximate GR
models (see the discussion in [96]). Even so, unstable mass transfer can produce a substantial
disk around the BH, though in every GR simulation to data the substantial majority of the
NS matter is accreted promptly by the BH (see [284] for a detailed summary of all current
results). The exact structure of the disk and its projected lifetime depend on the binary system
parameters, with the binary mass ratio and spin both important in determining the disk mass
and the BH spin orientation critical for determining both the disk’s vertical structure and its
thermodynamic state given the shock heating that occurs during the NS disruption. In general, the
mass and temperature of the post-merger disks are comparable to those seen in some NS-NS
mergers, and inasmuch as either is a plausible SGRB progenitor candidate then both need to
be viewed as such. To date, no calculation performed in full GR has found any bound and
self-gravitating NS remnant left over after the merger, including both NS cores that survive the
initial onset of mass transfer by recoiling outward (predicted for cases in which stable mass
transfer was thought possible, as noted above) or those in which bound objects form through
fragmentation of the circum-BH disk. Motivated by observations of wide-ranging timescales for X-ray
flares in both long and short GRBs [225], the latter channel has been suggested to occur in
collapsars [227] and mentioned in the context of mergers [243
], possibly on longer timescales
than current simulations permit. Even so, there is no analogue to the HMNS state that may
result from NS-NS mergers, nor any mechanism for a delayed SGRB as provided by HMNS
collapse.
http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2012-8 |
Living Rev. Relativity 15, (2012), 8
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