Thursday, April 25, 2024
14:00 - 15:00
Binary neutron star mergers are one of the most energetic and dynamical events in our universe. We expect to observe these events routinely with gravitational waves detectors as well as with other electromagnetic follow-up facilities. In particular with the upcoming Einstein Telescope and the planned launch of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, multi-messenger astronomy is of very high interest. In the past, binary neutron star mergers without magnetic fields have received most of the attention. However, to produce better and more accurate gravitational waveforms and electromagnetic counterparts signals, realistic modelling of the system is required. This master thesis project revisits the state-of-the-art binary neutron star models and explores the implications that different magnetic fields have on the merger dynamics, physical observables and evolution of the magnetic field. To this end, I perform magnetized neutron star merger simulations using full 3D general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamics. The main focus of this research is to study the evolution of the magnetic field. This concerns the magnitude of the total magnetic field and its poloidal/toroidal components. I also investigate the merging dynamics by looking at the gravitational wave signal. I show that the magnetic field amplification by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and magnetic winding generate strong toroidal magnetic fields for both weak and strong initial (pre-merger) magnetic fields.
UvA-IoP
UvA - Faculty of Science
Theory Lounge C4.278
MSc Presentation
astrophysics, computational physics
Bastiaan Grauss