Workshop on Binary Neutron Star Mergers

The summer of 2015 will mark the onset of the first science run of 2nd-generation interferometric gravitational wave detectors and over the next years several such detectors will form a world-wide network. The most promising sources of gravitational waves for these instruments are mergers of compact binaries. In particular, the coalescences of binary neutron star systems are considered to be the most probable events. Through gravitational wave observations, the equation of state of high-density matter is expected to be significantly constrained. But the merger events also include a rich phenomenology, such as r-process nucleosynthesis,  magnetohydrodynamic processes and high-energy emission. Ultimately, merger events will be an ideal target for multi-messenger astronomy.

The workshop will bring together experts from various fields that are relevant to the astrophysics of binary neutron star mergers, in order to foster interaction and a better understanding of the phenomenology. The presentation and discussion of the latest research results will allow for setting up new observational strategies and for devising new methods for arriving at observational constraints. We encourage the participation of young researchers and for this reason several talks will give a concise overview of particular aspects of binary neutron star astrophysics.