Astrophysics (Index)About

neutron-star black-hole merger

(NSBH merger, BHNS merger, black-hole neutron-star merger)
(a neutron star falling into a black hole)

A neutron-star black-hole merger (NSBH merger, aka black-hole neutron-star merger, BHNS merger), the joining of a neutron star and a black hole occurs when the orbit of a neutron-star black-hole binary becomes sufficiently small that gravitational waves sap energy from the orbit producing a runaway orbital decay. When the two merge, a gravitational wave event may result, and the ground gravitational-wave detectors, LIGO and Virgo can detect them within a certain distance. Up until now, black hole mergers have been detected far more often: out of 60+ GW detections of Ligo operating runs O1-O3, only three are identified as NSBH mergers (and only three neutron star mergers). (A factor that contributes to this trend is that mergers of more massive objects, i.e., black holes, produce waves detectable over a longer distance.)


(event type,transient type,neutron stars,black holes,gravitational waves,mergers)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gravitational_wave_observations
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020ApJ...903....8H/abstract
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2020.00046/full
https://phys.org/news/2022-07-merger-black-hole-neutron-star.html
https://beta.nsf.gov/news/astrophysicists-detect-first-black-hole-neutron
https://spaceaustralia.com/feature/first-neutron-star-black-hole-mergers-confirmed

Referenced by pages:
GW detection (GW)
short gamma-ray burst (SGRB)

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