Effects of differential rotation on the maximum mass of neutron stars

The merger of binary neutron stars is likely to lead to differentially rotating remnants. In this paper, we numerically construct models of differentially rotating neutron stars in general relativity and determine their maximum allowed mass. We model the stars by adopting a polytropic equation of state and tabulate maximum allowed masses as a function of differential rotation and stiffness of the equation of state. We also provide a crude argument that yields a qualitative estimate of the effect of stiffness and differential rotation on the maximum allowed mass.