Muons in the aftermath of neutron star mergers and their impact on trapped neutrinos

Abstract

Context. In the upcoming years, present and next-generation gravitational wave observatories will detect a larger number of binary neutron star (BNS) mergers with increasing accuracy. In this context, improving BNS merger numerical simulations is crucial to correctly interpret the data and constrain the equation of state (EOS) of neutron stars (NSs). Aims. State-of-the-art simulations of BNS mergers do not include muons. However, muons are known to be relevant in the microphysics of cold NSs and are expected to have a significant role in mergers, where the typical thermodynamic conditions favour their production. Our work is aimed at investigating the impact of muons on the merger remnant. Methods. We post-process the outcome of four numerical relativity simulations of BNS mergers performed with three different baryonic EOSs and two mass ratios considering the first 15 milliseconds after merger. We compute the abundance of muons in the remnant and analyse how muons affect the trapped neutrino component and the fluid pressure. Results. We find that depending on the baryonic EOS, the net fraction of muons is between 30% and 70% the net fraction of electrons. Muons change the flavour hierarchy of trapped (anti-)neutrinos such that deep inside the remnant, muon anti-neutrinos are the most abundant, followed by electron anti-neutrinos. Finally, muons and trapped neutrinos modify the neutron-to-proton ratio, affecting the remnant pressure by up to 7% when compared with calculations neglecting them. Conclusions. This work demonstrates that muons have a non-negligible effect on the outcome of BNS merger simulations, and they should be included to improve the accuracy of a simulation.