Merging and Stripping Regimes in Close Pairs of Relativistic Stars: Prospects for Models of Short Gamma-Ray Bursts

We consider the current status of the binary neutron star stripping model to explain short gamma-ray bursts. After the historical joint detection of the gravitational wave event GW170817 and accompanying gamma-ray burst GRB170817A, the production of short gamma-ray bursts in the neutron star coalescence has been reliably confirmed. Many properties of GRB170817A that turned out to be peculiar compared to other short gamma-ray bursts are naturally explained in the stripping model proposed in our works in 1984. We emphasize the role of D. K. Nadyozhin (1937–2020), who quantitatively predicted the GRB and kilonova properties back in 1990. We also discuss problems that need to be solved in the context of this model, especially in simulations using the smoothed-particle hydrodynamics method.