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G. J. Mathews, P. Marronetti (Univ. of Notre Dame), J. R. Wilson (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
We report on the first numerical results from a new independent formalism to describe the quasi-equilibrium structure of nonsynchronous binary neutron stars in general relativity. This is an important independent test of controversial numerical hydrodynamic simulations which suggested that nonsynchronous neutron stars in a close binary can experience compression and even collapse prior to the last stable circular orbit. We show that the interior density indeed increases as irrotational binary neutron stars approach their last orbits even though the opposite is true for corotating stars. This confirms the basic conclusion of the hydrodynamic simulations.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: gmathews@bootes.phys.nd.edu