Mass ejection by strange star mergers and observational implications.

We determine the Galactic production rate of strangelets as a canonical input to calculations of the measurable cosmic ray flux of strangelets by performing simulations of strange star mergers and combining the results with recent estimates of stellar binary populations. We find that the flux depends sensitively on the bag constant of the MIT bag model of QCD and disappears for high values of the bag constant and thus more compact strange stars. In the latter case, strange stars could coexist with ordinary neutron stars as they are not converted by the capture of cosmic ray strangelets. An unambiguous detection of an ordinary neutron star would then not rule out the strange matter hypothesis.

Gravitational waves from relativistic neutron-star mergers with microphysical equations of state.

The gravitational wave (GW) emission from a set of relativistic neutron-star (NS) merger simulations is analyzed and characteristic signal features are identified. The distinct peak in the GW energy spectrum that is associated with the formation of a hypermassive merger remnant has a frequency that depends strongly on the properties of the nuclear equation of state (EOS) and on the total mass of the binary system, whereas the mass ratio and the NS spins have a weak influence. If the total mass can be determined from the inspiral chirp signal, the peak frequency of the post-merger signal is a sensitive indicator of the EOS.