Modeling Neutron Star Matter in the Age of Multimessenger Astrophysics

TL;DR

This paper extends a correlated basis state formalism to include finite-temperature effects in nuclear matter, enabling more accurate modeling of neutron star properties for multimessenger astrophysics.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive extension of the correlated basis state approach to finite temperatures, facilitating improved theoretical models of dense nuclear matter.

Findings

Numerical calculations of nuclear matter properties up to 50 MeV temperature.

Effective interactions derived are suitable for perturbation theory.

Enhanced modeling of neutron star matter for astrophysical observations.

Abstract

The interpretation of the available and forthcoming data obtained from multimessenger astrophysical observations -- potentially providing unprecedented access to neutron star properties -- will require the development of novel, accurate theoretical models of dense matter. Of great importance, in this context, will be the capability to devise a description of thermal effects applicable to the study of quantities other than the equation of state, such as the transport coefficients and the neutrino mean free path in the nuclear medium. The formalism based on correlated basis states and the cluster expansion technique has been previously employed to derive a well-behaved effective interaction -- suitable for use in standard perturbation theory -- from a state-of-the-art nuclear Hamiltonian, including phenomenological two- and three-nucleon potentials. Here, we provide a comprehensive and self-contained account of the extension of this approach to the treatment of finite-temperature effects, and report the results of numerical calculations of a number of properties of nuclear matter with arbitrary neutron excess and temperature up to 50 MeV.