Gravitational wave radiation from the coalescence of white dwarfs |
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Authors: | P. Loré n-Aguilar,J. Guerrero,J. Isern,J. A. Lobo, E. Garcí a-Berro |
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Affiliation: | Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, Edifici Nexus, Gran Capità2-4, 08034 Barcelona, Spain;Institut de Ciències de l'Espai, C. S. I. C, Campus UAB, Facultat de Ciencies, Torre C-5, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain;Departament de Física Fonamental, Universitat de Barcelona, c/Martíi Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain;Departament de Física Aplicada, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Escola Politècnica Superior de Castelldefels, Avda. del Canal Olímpic s/n, 08860 Castelldefels, Spain |
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Abstract: | We compute the emission of gravitational radiation from the merging of a close white dwarf binary system. This is done for a wide range of masses and compositions of the white dwarfs, ranging from mergers involving two He white dwarfs, through mergers in which two CO white dwarfs coalesce, to mergers in which a massive ONe white dwarf is involved. In doing so we follow the evolution of the binary system using a smoothed particle hydrodynamics code. Even though the coalescence process of the white dwarfs involves considerable masses, moving at relatively high velocities with a high degree of asymmetry we find that the signature of the merger is not very strong. In fact, the most prominent feature of the coalescence is that in a relatively small time-scale (of the order of the period of the last stable orbit, typically a few minutes) the sources stop emitting gravitational waves. We also discuss the possible implications of our calculations for the detection of the coalescence within the framework of future space-borne interferometers like LISA. |
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Keywords: | gravitational waves binaries: close white dwarfs |
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