Measuring neutron star tidal deformability with Advanced LIGO: black hole - neutron star binaries

The pioneering observations of gravitational waves (GW) by Advanced LIGO have ushered us into an era of \textit{observational} GW astrophysics. Compact binaries remain the primary target sources for GW observations, of which black hole - neutron star (BHNS) binaries form an important subset. GWs from coalescing BHNS systems carry signatures of the tidal distortion of the neutron star by its companion black hole during inspiral, as well as of its disruption close to merger. In this talk, I will discuss how well we can measure tidal effects from individual and populations of LIGO observations of disruptive BHNS mergers. I will also talk about how our measurements of non-tidal parameters can get affected by ignoring tidal effects in BHNS parameter estimation.