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Megahertz Gravitational Waves from Neutron Star Mergers

Diego Blas1,2, Jorge Casalderrey-Solana3,4, David Mateos3,4,2, and Mikel Sanchez-Garitaonandia3,4,5,*

  • *Contact author: mikel.sanchez@polytechnique.edu
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 101401 – Published 10 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/6yz9-94ql

Abstract

Neutron star mergers provide a unique laboratory for the study of strong-field gravity coupled to quantum chromodynamics in extreme conditions. The frequencies and amplitudes of the resulting gravitational waves encode invaluable information about the merger. Simulations to date have shown that these frequencies lie in the kilohertz range. They have also shown that, if quantum chromodynamics possesses a first-order phase transition at high baryon density, then this is likely to be accessed during the merger dynamics. Here, we show that this would result in the nucleation of superheated and/or supercompressed bubbles whose subsequent dynamics would produce gravitational waves in the megahertz range. We estimate the amplitude of this signal and compare it to the sensitivity of planned future detectors.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 101401– Published 10 March, 2026
  • Received 6 July 2023
  • Revised 2 February 2026
  • Accepted 10 February 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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