Gravitational waves and tidal deformability of neutron stars

The gravitational waves (GW170817) produced during a binary neutron star inspiral, followed by a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and afterglows from X-ray to radio wavelength, were observed. By combining the distance obtained from gravitational waves with the red shift obtained from electromagnetic waves, even the Hubble constant was estimated. This indicates the start of new era of multimessenger astronomy. In addition to the masses of inspiralling neutron stars, the tidal deformability, which depends on the inner structures of neutron stars, has been estimated from gravitational waves. This confirms that even strong interactions can be tested by using gravitational waves. In this article, we review the effect of the tidal deformability of neutron stars on the gravitational waves produced during the inspiral process and discuss the implications of the detected tidal deformability for the neutron star’s equations of state.