Top panel: evolution of the total EM for the four binaries considered, star symbols indicating when the KHI can be considered to be considerably reduced (t = t_sh,1/2). Second panel: evolution of the EM energy in the poloidal (solid lines) and toroidal components (dashed lines). Third panel: evolution of the KHI growth rate ﹩\gamma := {\dot{E}}_{{}_{{\rm{EM}}}}/{E}_{{}_{{\rm{EM}}}}﹩. Bottom panel: evolution of the KHI growth rates in the poloidal (solid lines) and toroidal components (dashed lines). In all panels, the vertical dashed lines mark the merger time t_mer for each binary.