Gravitational wave emission from phase transition inside neutron stars

We review the detectability of gravitational waves generated by oscillations excited during a phase transition from hadronic matter to deconfined quark-gluon matter in the core of a neutron star. Neutron star properties are computed using a Boguta-Bodmer based model and the MIT bag model. The maximum energy available to excite mechanical oscillations in the star is estimated as the energy difference between the configurations with and without a quark-gluon matter core. We find, on basis of the planned sensitivity of present laser interferometers (VIRGO or LIGO I) and those of the next generation (LIGO II), results indicating the potential detectability of neutron stars as sources of gravitational waves. From these results we conclude that the maximum distance probed by the detectors of the first generation is well beyond M31, whereas the second generation detectors will probably see phase transition implications at distances two times larger, but certainly not yet attaining the Virgo cluster. (author)