Figure 5: Isodensity contours and velocity profile in the equatorial plane for a merger of two
unequal-mass NSs with and , with both assumed to follow the APR
model [3] for the NS EOS. In unequal-mass mergers, the lower mass NS is tidally disrupted during
the merger, forming a disk-like structure around the heavier NS. In this case, the total mass of
the remnant is sufficiently high for prompt collapse to a BH, but 0.85% of the total mass remains
outside the BH horizon at the end of the simulation, which is substantially larger than for equal-mass
mergers with prompt collapse (see Figure 4). Image reproduced by permission from Figure 6 of [144],
copyright by APS.
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