{"id":84041,"date":"2020-06-23T15:34:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T20:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=84041"},"modified":"2021-10-11T13:00:50","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T18:00:50","slug":"exploring-the-mysterious-gap-between-black-holes-and-neutron-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/exploring-the-mysterious-gap-between-black-holes-and-neutron-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring the mysterious gap between black holes and neutron stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists have discovered an object in a cosmic collision that is denser than previously detected neutron stars but still far less dense than known black holes, challenging the accepted description of neutron stars and black holes, two of the many forms of massive, dying stars in the universe.<\/p>\n

Physics professors Patrick Brady and\u00a0Jolien\u00a0Creighton and a group of 15 other researchers from 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s Center for Gravitation, Cosmology and Astrophysics\u00a0contributed to the recent paper by the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration published in\u00a0The\u00a0Astrophysical Journal Letters\u00a0that investigated the collision.<\/p>\n

The end game of massive stars often involves a smashup, called a \u201ccompact binary merger,\u201d that\u00a0is\u00a0so violent\u00a0it\u00a0produces\u00a0gravitational waves \u2013 ripples in space-time that can be detected by the LIGO\u00a0and\u00a0Virgo\u00a0detectors.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Deep\u00a0Chatterjee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now that these\u00a0mergers\u00a0can be detected,\u00a0scientists want to further\u00a0explore\u00a0them\u00a0using\u00a0quick follow-up\u00a0from telescopes\u00a0and instruments that\u00a0spot\u00a0forms of\u202fradiation, such as visible light,\u202fradio waves, gamma rays and\u202fX-rays.\u00a0This \u201cmulti-messenger\u201d investigation\u00a0is expected to reveal information that helps\u00a0physicists piece together\u00a0new knowledge about the universe.<\/p>\n

In this recent paper, the researchers have detected a merger<\/a> in which one object has a mass that defies the standard description. For decades astronomers have been puzzled by a gap that lies between the mass of neutron stars and black holes: The heaviest known neutron star is no more than 2.5 times the mass of our sun \u2013 or 2.5 \u201csolar masses\u201d \u2013 and the lightest known black hole is about 5 solar masses.<\/p>\n

This newly discovered object lies in this so-called \u201cmass gap.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this conversation,\u00a0Deep\u00a0Chatterjee, a\u00a051ÁÔÆæ\u00a0doctoral researcher and a\u00a0co-author on the paper,\u00a0discusses the mass gap and\u00a0explains\u00a0the importance of multi-messenger astronomy in\u00a0determining\u00a0whether\u00a0more\u00a0objects exist in the mass gap.<\/p>\n

Scientists <\/strong>don\u2019t know if the object in the<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>cosmic<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>merger that<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>LIGO\/Virgo found is a neutron star or a black hole. But, since it falls into the \u201cmass gap,\u201d does<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>that\u202fmean<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>there could be neutron stars that are much<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>denser<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>than we thought?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is certainly a possibility. This observation means that the lighter object \u2013 if it\u2019s a neutron star \u2013 is the heaviest one detected so far. Theoretically, neutron stars could have masses\u00a0of\u00a0about 3. However, scientists have only observed them with masses up to 2.5.\u00a0So, this would change the present belief of how heavy neutron stars can be.<\/p>\n

The other possibility is the existence of a lighter black hole. It is believed that black holes have solar masses of more than 5, the upper limit of the mass gap. This also is challenged\u00a0in case this object is a black hole.<\/p>\n

What will scientists have to see in the future to\u202fsolve the mystery of whether this\u202fobject was a neutron star or black hole?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
This illustration is a face-on \u201csnapshot\u201d from a numerical relativity simulation of the two bodies moments before merger. (Graphic by N. Fischer, S. Ossokine, H. Pfeiffer, A. Buonanno {Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics}, Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes Collaboration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Observations\u00a0with electromagnetic\u00a0radiation\u00a0are a confident way to solve this. If the neutron star was torn apart by the black hole, the dynamics of the remnant matter could produce light, similar to the neutron star merger GW170817 in 2017. Observation of light would mean this was a neutron star. But unfortunately, this particular event was pretty far away, so the light may be too dim.<\/p>\n

There is also the possibility that the neutron star was not torn apart but swallowed by the black hole, in which case there is no light. In the future, if we have a better understanding of what a neutron star is made of\u00a0\u2013\u00a0its \u201cequation of state\u201d \u2013\u00a0we could\u00a0rule out black holes with\u00a0more\u00a0confidence.<\/p>\n

Why is the mass of these objects important? What have we learned about super-massive objects by studying their movements in space?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The masses are a part of the whole story. Compact objects are interesting because they are probes of both extreme matter and extreme gravity.\u202fThese conditions cannot be reproduced in an Earth-based lab. Therefore, dense compact objects are high-energy astrophysical laboratories. We need super-dense objects colliding in space to produce enough gravitational waves detectable by LIGO. Thus, binary compact object mergers are the most promising source in this regard.<\/p>\n

Also, these compact object mergers produce not only gravitational waves\u00a0but also other electromagnetic messengers like gamma-ray bursts and fast-optical transients,\u00a0called\u00a0kilonovae. Currently, there is a global focus on\u00a0multi-messenger\u00a0observations\u00a0because each method provides different\u00a0information.<\/p>\n

What aspect of this multi-messenger research effort do you work on?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

We stand to learn the most from\u00a0multi-messenger observations, but the duration of these events in the sky\u00a0is very short. We need rapid communication between LIGO and other partner observing facilities to coordinate.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m involved with the LIGO low-latency group, where I develop scientific tools that predict if a merger is worth following up. I also develop automated software infrastructure within LIGO to relay the discovery information to astronomers for follow-up.\u00a0Besides LIGO,\u00a0I\u00a0work with the Zwicky Transient Facility collaboration, an optical telescope\u00a0in California\u00a0that follows up gravitational-wave events to hunt the\u00a0elusive\u00a0kilonova.\u00a0With Zwicky, I work on the sensitivity of such telescopes and develop strategies for follow-up.<\/p>\n

Besides Brady, Creighton and Chatterjee, 51ÁÔÆæ co-authors on the paper include:\u00a0 Caitlin Rose, Ignacio Magana Hernandez, Adam Mercer, Duncan Meacher, Mike\u00a0Manske,\u00a0Xiaoshu\u00a0Liu, Patrick\u00a0Brockill, Warren Anderson, Siddharth Mohite,\u00a0Shaon\u00a0Ghosh,\u00a0Shasvath\u00a0Kapadia, Tanner Prestegard, Sinead Walsh and Tom Downes.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The LIGO-Virgo Collaboration recently discovered an object denser than neutron stars and less dense than black holes. So what does that mean? One of the 51ÁÔÆæ researchers explains. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":836,"featured_media":84042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174,175],"tags":[],"section":[140,139],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[282,338],"uwmnews-feed":[158,161],"class_list":["post-84041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-research","section-science","section-science-technology","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","related-coverage-physics","related-coverage-research","uwmnews-feed-letters-science","uwmnews-feed-hard-science"],"yoast_head":"\nExploring the mysterious gap between black holes and neutron stars<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The LIGO-Virgo Collaboration recently discovered an object denser than neutron stars and less dense than black holes. 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So what does that mean? One of the 51ÁÔÆæ researchers explains.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/exploring-the-mysterious-gap-between-black-holes-and-neutron-stars\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/exploring-the-mysterious-gap-between-black-holes-and-neutron-stars\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/exploring-the-mysterious-gap-between-black-holes-and-neutron-stars\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2020\/06\/stellar.graveyard-1750x500-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2020\/06\/stellar.graveyard-1750x500-1.jpg","width":750,"height":500,"caption":"This graphic shows the \u201csolar masses\u201d of detected objects in the stellar graveyard \u2013 the area in the population of objects that were once stars devoid of objects between 2.5 and 5 solar masses. These include neutron star mergers in yellow and black hole mergers in purple. Yellow and purple events were discovered using observations of electromagnetic radiation rather than gravitational waves. In blue are the compact mergers between either two black holes or a neutron star and a black hole are that were detected by LIGO\/Virgo. There also are two neutron star mergers, in orange, that were detected by LIGO\/Virgo. The arrows attached to some indicate they are the individual components of a final, more massive remnant in blue. GW190814 is the one with the white glow around it."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/exploring-the-mysterious-gap-between-black-holes-and-neutron-stars\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Exploring the mysterious gap between black holes and neutron stars"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/","name":"51ÁÔÆæ REPORT","description":"News from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","width":225,"height":224,"caption":"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/51ÁÔÆæNews"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565","name":"Laura Otto","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/author\/llhuntuwm-edu\/"}]}},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 01:31:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/836"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84041"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84049,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84041\/revisions\/84049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84041"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=84041"},{"taxonomy":"display_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_categories?post=84041"},{"taxonomy":"related-coverage","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/related-coverage?post=84041"},{"taxonomy":"uwmnews-feed","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/uwmnews-feed?post=84041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}