Degeneracy in the Inference of Phase Transitions in the Neutron Star Equation of State from Gravitational Wave Data

Gravitational wave (GW) detections of binary neutron star inspirals will be crucial for constraining the dense matter equation of state (EOS). We demonstrate a new degeneracy in the mapping from tidal deformability data to the EOS, which occurs for models with strong phase transitions. We find that there exists a new family of EOS with phase transitions that set in at different densities and that predict neutron star radii that differ by up to ∼500  m but that produce nearly identical tidal deformabilities for all neutron star masses. Next-generation GW detectors and advances in nuclear theory may be needed to resolve this degeneracy.

Impact of Dynamical Tides on the Reconstruction of the Neutron Star Equation of State

Gravitational waves (GWs) from inspiraling neutron stars afford us a unique opportunity to infer the as-of-yet unknown equation of state of cold hadronic matter at supranuclear densities. During the inspiral, the dominant matter effects arise due to the star's response to their companion's tidal field, leaving a characteristic imprint in the emitted GW signal. This unique signature allows us to constrain the cold neutron star equation of state. At GW frequencies above ≳800  Hz, however, subdominant tidal effects known as dynamical tides become important. In this Letter, we demonstrate that neglecting dynamical tidal effects associated with the fundamental (f) mode leads to large systematic biases in the measured tidal deformability of the stars and hence in the inferred neutron star equation of state. Importantly, we find that f-mode dynamical tides will already be relevant for Advanced LIGO's and Virgo's fifth observing run (∼2025)-neglecting dynamical tides can lead to errors on the neutron radius of O(1  km), with dramatic implications for the measurement of the equation of state. Our results demonstrate that the accurate modeling of subdominant tidal effects beyond the adiabatic limit will be crucial to perform accurate measurements of the neutron star equation of state in upcoming GW observations.