Title: Neutron Stars and White Dwarf Mergers: An Emerging Multimessenger View

Speaker: Dr. Rahul Kashyap, PennState University

Abstract: Neutron stars and white dwarfs contain densest matter known to us in the universe. This brings gravity in a tug of war with nuclear, electromagnetic and weak interactions which keep these stars from collapsing. The merging of these compact objects in binary systems generates signals detectable across various observational windows, thereby broadening and enriching the realm of multimessenger astronomy. In this colloquium, I will illustrate how large-scale computational frameworks serve as valuable tools for exploring the intricate interplay of these fundamental interactions and aiding in scientific discovery. I will also present the data analysis techniques to extract information from current and future gravitational wave observations. We will focus on kilonovae and gravitational waves produced by colliding neutron stars, as well as Type Ia supernovae triggered by the mergers of binary white dwarfs. I will present our evolving understanding of these systems and some future directions that the field is going towards.