Constraining Nuclear Symmetry Energy with Multi-messenger Resonant Shattering Flares

TL;DR

This paper proposes using coincident observations of resonant shattering flares and gravitational waves from neutron star mergers to constrain the nuclear symmetry energy, especially in the crust-core transition region, complementing terrestrial experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel multi-messenger approach that links astrophysical observations to nuclear physics constraints on the symmetry energy.

Findings

Resonant shattering flares combined with gravitational wave data probe the crust-core transition.

Different observables constrain different density ranges of the equation of state.

The method provides constraints on symmetry energy comparable to terrestrial nuclear experiments.

Abstract

Much effort is devoted to measuring the nuclear symmetry energy through neutron star (NS) and nuclear observables. Since matter in the NS core may be non-hadronic, observables like radii and tidal deformability may not provide reliable constraints on properties of nucleonic matter. We demonstrate that coincident timing of a resonant shattering flare (RSF) and gravitational wave signal during binary NS inspiral probes the crust-core transition region and provides constraints on the symmetry energy comparable to terrestrial nuclear experiments. We show that nuclear masses, RSFs and measurements of NS radii and tidal deformabilities constrain different density ranges of the EOS, providing complementary probes.