Binary neutron-star systems: From the Newtonian regime to the last stable orbit

We report on the first calculations of fully relativistic binary circular orbits to span a range of separation distances from the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO), deeply inside the strong field regime, to a distance $\left(\sim 200\hspace{0.5em}\mathrm{km}\right)$ where the system is accurately described by Newtonian dynamics. We consider a binary system composed of two identical corotating neutron stars, with 1.43 $M_{\odot }$ gravitational mass each in isolation. Using a conformally flat spatial metric we find solutions to the initial value equations that correspond to semi-stable circular orbits. At large distance, our numerical results agree exceedingly well with the Newtonian limit. We also present a self consistent determination of the ISCO for different stellar masses.