Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1997-10-30
Astron.Astrophys.332:173-188,1998
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
18 pages including 9 figures, Latex; Accepted for publication in A&A
Scientific paper
The formation and evolution of binaries which contain two neutron stars or a neutron star with a black hole are discussed in detail. The evolution of the distributions in orbital period and eccentricity for neutron star binaries are studied as a function of time. In the model which fits the observations of high mass binary pulsars best the deposition of orbital energy into common envelopes has to be very efficient and a kick velocity distribution has to contain a significant contribution of low velocity kicks. The estimated age of the population has to be between several 100 Myr and 1 Gyr. The birthrate of binary neutron stars is about 3.4 10^{-5} per year (assuming 100% binarity) and their merger rate is about 2 x 10^{-5} per year. The merger rate of neutron star binaries is consistent with the estimated rate of gamma-ray bursts, if the latter are beamed into an opening angle of a few degrees. We argue that PSR B2303+46 is possibly formed in a scenario in which the common envelope is avoided while for the other three known high-mass binary pulsars a common envelope is required to explain their orbital period.
Portegies Zwart Simon. F.
Yungelson Lev R.
No associations
LandOfFree
Formation and Evolution of Binary Neutron Stars does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Formation and Evolution of Binary Neutron Stars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Formation and Evolution of Binary Neutron Stars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-638653