Phase transitions in neutron stars and gravitational wave emission

Observatoire de la Cˆote d‘Azur, Nice, France.(Dated: February 5, 2008)We review the detectability of gravitational waves generated by oscillations excited during aphase transition from hadronic matter to deconfined quark-gluon matter in the core of a neutronstar. Neutron star properties were computed using a Boguta and Bodmer’s based model and theMIT bag model. The maximum energy available to excite mechanical oscillations into the star isestimated by energy difference between the configurations with and without a quark-gluon mattercore. On basis of the planned sensitivity of present laser interferometers (VIRGO or LIGO I) andthose of the next generation (LIGO II), the maximum volume to be probed by these experiments isdetermined. These results are used as an indication of the potential detectability of neutron starsas sources of gravitational waves. Our results indicate that the maximum distance probed by thedetectors of the first generation is well beyond M31, whereas the second generation detectors willprobably see phase transition events at distances two times longer, but certainly not yet attainingthe Virgo cluster.