Implications for compact stars of a soft nuclear equation of state from heavy-ion data

TL;DR

This paper explores how a soft nuclear equation of state, derived from heavy-ion collision data, influences the properties of compact stars, including their radii, moments of inertia, and maximum mass limits.

Contribution

It links heavy-ion collision data to constraints on nuclear matter and neutron star characteristics, providing new limits on neutron star maximum mass based on causality and experimental data.

Findings

Constraints on neutron star radii and moments of inertia from heavy-ion data.

Derived upper limit of three solar masses for neutron star maximum mass.

Implications for the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy.

Abstract

We study the implications on compact star properties of a soft nuclear equation of state determined from kaon production at subthreshold energies in heavy-ion collisions. On one hand, we apply these results to study radii and moments of inertia of light neutron stars. Heavy-ion data provides constraints on nuclear matter at densities relevant for those stars and, in particular, to the density dependence of the symmetry energy of nuclear matter. On the other hand, we derive a limit for the highest allowed neutron star mass of three solar masses. For that purpose, we use the information on the nucleon potential obtained from the analysis of the heavy-ion data combined with causality on the nuclear equation of state.