Accretion spin-up of the massive component in the neutron star stripping model for short gamma-ray bursts

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this paper, we use analytical methods to study the last stages of the double neutron star (NS) system evolution. Depending on the initial masses of the components, this evolution can occur either in the framework of the merging scenario or in the NS stripping model. The main new ingredient of this work, compared with previous calculations, is accounting for accretion spin-up of the massive component. This effect leads to a significant decrease in the duration of the stable mass transfer of matter in the stripping mechanism. Within the framework of the Newtonian approximation, we determine the boundary between the merging and stripping scenarios. It is shown that this boundary weakly depends on the total mass of the system and the specific form of the NS equation of state, and is determined mainly by the initial mass ratio of the components. The stripping scenario is realized at M2/M1 ≲ 0.8, so it should make a large contribution to the population of gravitational wave events from NS–NS coalescing binaries that are close to us, and their accompanying short gamma-ray bursts. Nevertheless, the value obtained requires further clarification, taking into account relativistic effects, possible non-conservative mass transfer, etc.