Abstract
Neutron stars are astrophysical objects of extremes, reaching the highest densities we can observe in the cosmos, and probing matter under conditions that cannot be recreated in terrestrial experiments. In August 2017, the first neutron-star merger has been observed, which provided compelling evidence that these events are an important site for r-process nucleosynthesis. Furthermore, the gravitational-wave signal of such events might shed light upon the nature of strongly interacting matter in the neutron-star core. To understand these remarkable events, reliable nuclear physics input is essential. In this contribution, I explain how to use chiral effective field theory and advanced many-body methods to provide a consistent and systematic approach to strongly inter- acting systems from nuclei to neutron stars with controlled theoretical uncertainties. I will discuss recent results for the equation of state relevant for the nuclear astrophysics of neutron stars and neutron-star mergers.
Highlights
Neutron stars (NSs) are extreme stellar objects
Neutron stars are described by the equation of state (EOS), which is a relation among the energy density, the pressure p, the temperature T and the composition
The combination of local chiral interactions with quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods has lead to an excellent description of various nuclear systems, from atomic nuclei up to 16O [20], neutron-α scattering [16], as well as pure neutron matter [16, 21]
Summary
Neutron stars (NSs) are extreme stellar objects. They are born in core collapse supernovae of stars with about 8-20 solar masses [1] and, are one of the final stages of stellar evolution. Neutron stars consist of strongly interacting matter Their outer crust is made up of a lattice of nuclei that become increasingly neutron-rich with growing density. At the so-called neutron-drip density, approximately 4 · 1011 g/cm, the neutron chemical potential is so high that neutrons can exist outside of the nuclei In this inner crust, the lattice of nuclei is surrounded by a neutron fluid. Above 2 nsat, NSs explore strongly-interacting matter that cannot be realized in terrestrial experiments. At these densities, exotic phases of matter, e.g., deconfined quark matter [2], might appear. I will explain how we can use state-of-the-art nuclear theory and NS observations to unravel the EOS of dense matter
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