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Authors: V. Ferrari, L. Gualtieri, F. Pannarale

Date: 18 Jan 2008

Abstract: We compute the gravitational signal emitted in the latest phases of the coalescence of a binary system composed of a stellar mass black hole and a neutron star, prior to merging. Tidal interactions are taken into account by means of the affine model approach, in which the neutron star is viewed as a deformable ellipsoid. We compare the orbital and the tidal contributions to the signal, assuming that the star moves in a region where, although very close to the black hole, it has not been disrupted yet. We show that during the last revolutions the star is a non-spherical oscillating object. Indeed, the non-radial oscillations of the star are excited and produce a multiple peak structure in the emitted signal, due to mode coupling, and to the coupling between orbital motion and tidal interaction. This model could be a useful tool to provide reliable initial conditions for numerical relativity simulations of merging processes.

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