Neutron star as a mirror for gravitational waves

• Published in: Astrophysics and space science 2020-09, Vol.365 (9), Article 148
• Main Authors: Wei, Hao, Qiang, Da-Chun, Yu, Zhong-Xi, Deng, Hua-Kai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astrobiology; Astronomy; Astrophysics; Astrophysics and Astroparticles; Cosmology; Equations of state; Galaxies; Gravitation; Gravitational lenses; Gravitational waves; Imaging; Milky Way; Neutron stars; Neutrons; Observations and Techniques; Original Article; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Space Exploration and Astronautics; Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics; Superconductivity; Superfluidity
• ISSN: 0004-640X; 1572-946X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10509-020-03863-w

Gravitational wave (GW) has become one of the most active fields in physics and astronomy since the first direct detection of GW event in 2015. As is well known, multiple images of GW events are possible through the gravitational lenses. Here, we propose a novel mirror imaging mechanism for GW events different from the gravitational lens. In the literature, the superconductor was predicted to be highly reflective mirror for GWs. It is well known that neutron stars exhibit superconductivity and superfluidity. In this work, we predict that there are two types of GW mirror imaging phenomena caused by the neutron star located in Milky Way or the same host galaxy of GW source, which might be detected within a life period of man (namely the time delay Δ t can be a few years to a few tens of years). It is expected to witness this predicted GW mirror imaging phenomenon in the near future. In the long term, the observations of this novel GW mirror imaging phenomenon might help us to find numerous neutron stars unseen by other means, and learn more about the complicated internal structures of neutron stars, as well as their equations of state.