Modelling neutron star mountains in relativity. (arXiv:2105.06493v1 [astro-ph.HE])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Gittins_F/0/1/0/all/0/1">F. Gittins</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Andersson_N/0/1/0/all/0/1">N. Andersson</a>

Rapidly spinning, deformed neutron stars have long been considered potential
gravitational-wave emitters. However, so far only upper limits on the size of
the involved quadrupole deformations have been obtained. For this reason, it is
pertinent to ask how large a mountain can be before the neutron star crust
fractures. This is the question we consider in this paper, which describes how
mountains can be calculated in relativistic gravity. Formally, such a
calculation requires a fiducial force to source the mountain. Therefore, we
consider three simple examples and increase their deforming amplitudes until
the crust yields. We demonstrate how the derived mountains depend on the
equation of state by considering a range of models obtained from chiral
effective field theory. We find that the largest mountains depend sensitively
on both the mechanism that sources them and the nuclear-matter equation of
state.

Rapidly spinning, deformed neutron stars have long been considered potential
gravitational-wave emitters. However, so far only upper limits on the size of
the involved quadrupole deformations have been obtained. For this reason, it is
pertinent to ask how large a mountain can be before the neutron star crust
fractures. This is the question we consider in this paper, which describes how
mountains can be calculated in relativistic gravity. Formally, such a
calculation requires a fiducial force to source the mountain. Therefore, we
consider three simple examples and increase their deforming amplitudes until
the crust yields. We demonstrate how the derived mountains depend on the
equation of state by considering a range of models obtained from chiral
effective field theory. We find that the largest mountains depend sensitively
on both the mechanism that sources them and the nuclear-matter equation of
state.

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