Rapid neutron star equation of state inference with Normalising Flows

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Abstract:: The first detection of gravitational waves from binary neutron stars on the 17th of August, 2017, (GW170817) heralded the arrival of a new messenger for probing neutron star astrophysics. One of the many spectacular outcomes of GW170817 was the first constraints on neutron star equation of state from gravitational wave observations. A significant amount of computing time and resources were used to obtain these first constraints. However, as observations of binary neutron star coalescence become more routine in the coming observing runs, there is a need to significantly improve the analysis speed and flexibility. Here, we present a rapid approach for inferring the neutron star equation of state based on normalising flows. We demonstrate that, using the same input data, our approach, ASTREOS, produces consistent with the results presented in Abbott et al. but will only require O(0.1)s to generate neutron star equation of state curves. Furthermore, ASTREOS allows for non-parametric equation of state inference. This rapid analysis will not only feed into neutron star equation of state studies but can potentially feed into future alerts for electromagnetic follow-up observations of binary neutron star observations. Additionally, we discuss the implications this rapid analysis, especially in the context of other rapid Bayesian inference frameworks such as Dingo and VItamin.

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Keywords:: neutron star equation of state tidal deformability BNS multi-messenger astronomy

Notes and Changes:: Added/updated to LIGO DCC number LIGO-P2300288-v3 in the text of the document file.

LIGO Document P2300288-v3