Collision of 1.4 $M_{\odot}$ Neutron Stars: Dynamical or Quasi-Equilibrium?

Abstract

Shapiro put forth a conjecture stating that neutron stars in head-on collisions (infalling from infinity) will not collapse to black holes before neutrino cooling, independent of the mass of the neutron stars. In a previous paper we carried out a numerical simulation showing a counter example based on 1.4 $M_{\odot}$ neutron stars, and provided an analysis explaining why Shapiro's argument was not applicable for this case. A recent paper by Shapiro put forth an argument suggesting that numerical simulations of the 1.4 $M_{\odot}$ collisions could not disprove the conjecture with the accuracy that is presently attainable. We show in this paper that this argument is not applicable for the same reason that the Shapiro conjecture is not applicable to the 1.4 $M_{\odot}$ neutron star collision, namely, the collision is too dynamical to be treated by quasi-equilibrium arguments.