Binary neutron star populations in the Milky Way

Sgalletta, Cecilia, Iorio, Giuliano, Mapelli, Michela, Artale, M. Celeste, Boco, Lumen, Chattopadhyay, Debatri, Lapi, Andrea, Possenti, Andrea, Rinaldi, Stefano and Spera, Mario 2023. Binary neutron star populations in the Milky Way. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 526 (2) , 2210–2229. 10.1093/mnras/stad2768

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Abstract

Galactic binary neutron stars (BNSs) are a unique laboratory to probe the evolution of BNSs and their progenitors. Here, we use a new version of the population synthesis code SEVN to evolve the population of Galactic BNSs, by modelling the spin up and down of pulsars self-consistently. We analyse the merger rate ⁠, orbital period Porb, eccentricity e, spin period P, and spin period derivative of the BNS population. Values of the common envelope parameter α = 1−3 and an accurate model of the Milky Way star formation history best reproduce the BNS merger rate in our Galaxy (⁠ Myr−1). We apply radio-selection effects to our simulated BNSs and compare them to the observed population. Using a Dirichlet process Gaussian mixture method, we evaluate the four-dimensional likelihood in the space, by comparing our radio-selected simulated pulsars against Galactic BNSs. Our analysis favours an uniform initial distribution for both the magnetic field (1010−13 G) and the spin period (10−100 ms). The implementation of radio selection effects is critical to match not only the spin period and period derivative, but also the orbital period and eccentricity of Galactic BNSs. According to our fiducial model, the Square Kilometre Array will detect ∼20 new BNSs in the Milky Way.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	0035-8711
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	23 November 2023
Date of Acceptance:	1 September 2023
Last Modified:	24 Nov 2023 10:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/164270

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