Interaction of misaligned magnetospheres in the coalescence of binary neutron stars

Abstract

We study the dependence of the electromagnetic luminosity --produced by interactions of force-free magnetospheres-- on dipole inclinations in binary neutron star systems. We show that this interaction extracts kinetic energy from the system and powers a Poynting flux with a strong dependence on the dipole orientations. This dependence can be linked to the reconnection and redistribution of magnetic field as the stars interact. Although the details of the Poynting luminosity are very much dependent on the orientation, all the cases considered here nevertheless radiate a large Poynting flux. This robust emission suggests that the pre-merger stage of binary neutron star systems can yield interesting electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave events.