1996A&A...312..670P

We use a detailed binary-evolution model to predict the rate for merger events of neutron-star/neutron-star binaries, for various extreme assumptions about initial conditions and evolutionary mechanisms. The models in which neutron stars acquire a kick velocity at birth of ∼450km/s predict a merger rate in the Galaxy, and consequently a rate for bursts of gravitational waves, of at least ∼10^–5yr^–1. This rate is slightly larger than the `best guess' derived from three observed (ns, ns) binaries (Phinney 1991). Also the galactic population produced with these models is consistent with the result from Narayan et al. (1991). Models without kick velocities produce a galactic population that is two orders of magnitude larger than the models with a high-velocity kick. These models are also incompatible with Bailes'(1995) upper limit for coalescence rates of (ns, ns) binary pulsars. The merger rates for these models are an order of magnitude larger than for the models with a kick.