The heavier the better: how to constrain mass ratios and spins of high-mass neutron-star mergers

Abstract

The first binary neutron-star merger event, GW170817, and its bright electromagnetic counterpart have provided a remarkable amount of information. By contrast, the second event, GW190425, with $M_{\rm tot}=3.4^{+0.3}_{-0.1}\,M_{\odot}$ and the lack of an electromagnetic counterpart, has hardly improved our understanding of neutron-star physics. While GW190425 is compatible with a scenario in which the merger has lead to a prompt collapse to a black hole and little ejected matter to power a counterpart, determining the mass ratio and the effective spin $\tilde{\chi}$ of the binary remains difficult. This is because gravitational waveforms cannot yet well constrain the component spins of the binary. However, since the mass of GW190425 is significantly larger than the maximum mass for nonrotating neutron stars, $M_{_{\rm TOV}}$, the mass ratio $q$ cannot be too small, as the heavier star would not be gravitationally stable. Making use of universal relations and a large number of equations of state, we provide limits in the $(\tilde{\chi},q)$ plane for GW190425, namely: $q_{\rm min} \geq 0.38$ and $ \tilde{\chi}_{\rm max}\leq 0.20$, assuming $M_\mathrm{tot} \simeq 3.4\, M_\odot$. Finally, we show how future observations of high-mass binaries can provide a lower bound on $M_{_{\rm TOV}}$.