Mergers of double neutron stars are considered the most likely progenitors for short gamma-ray bursts. Indeed such a merger can produce a black hole with a transient accreting torus of nuclear matter (Lee & Ramirez-Ruiz 2007, Oechslin & Janka 2006), and the conversion of a fraction of the torus mass-energy to radiation can power a gamma-ray burst (Nakar 2006). Using available binary pulsar obse...
