Compact star pulsations, gravitational waves, and the equation of state of dense matter

Abstract

We propose a multidisciplinary project where the student should investigate the non-radial oscillations of neutron stars. For this, the student must first conduct introductory studies on gravitational waves, the theory of stellar oscillations, and numerical methods of integration of differential equations. After this first phase, the student should develop a computer code to solve the oscillation equations in the Cowling approximation, use the code for finding the fundamental and the pressure modes for different equations of state of matter, and finally analyses and interpret the results. Such investigations have attracted increasing attention from the scientific community because they can relate astrophysical observations with microphysical aspects of matter at very high densities.