Speaker
Description
The advent of gravitational-wave astronomy is revolutionizing the study of neutron-star
physics. It can provide valuable information about the equation of state of dense nuclear
matter, following the detection of mergers
of binary neutron-star systems.
There are strong indications that transport coefficients will be necessary for the study of
neutron-star mergers. In particular, bulk viscosity effects appear to operate on the same
timescales as those relevant to the merger process itself. In this talk we will review these ideas,
assuming that the stars are composed of quark matter., and affect the tidal heating in
the inspiral phase of the merger. We will also show that the bulk viscous pressure
of quark matter behaves as a viscoelastic Burgers fluid.