Binary neutron stars: inspiral and merger
Neutron star merger visualized
This video shows a computer simulation of two neutron stars merging, showing threedimensional visualizations of the data. The simulation models an event like the one responsible for the first gravitational waves detected by LIGO and Virgo in 2017 from a neutron star coalescence (GW170817).
The scientific details are described in the publication: W. Kastaun and F. Ohme, “Numerical inside view of hypermassive remnant models for GW170817”, Phys. Rev. D 104 (2021)
The video shows research done by the research group “Binary Merger Observations and Numerical Relativity” at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute, AEI) Hannover
Simulations and raytracing performed on the “Holodeck” cluster at AEI by Wolfgang Kastaun.
Extra credits: thanks to the SOHO observatory for images of the sun, to “Smarter Every Day” for the slow motion bird footage, and to the developers of Blender, the free open source raytracing software.
