Sensitivity of neutron drip lines and neutron star properties to the symmetry energy

TL;DR

This paper explores how the nuclear symmetry energy and its density slope influence neutron drip lines and neutron star characteristics, using models constrained by chiral effective field theory.

Contribution

It introduces a semi-classical liquid drop model framework to analyze correlations between symmetry energy parameters and neutron star and nuclear properties.

Findings

Correlations between symmetry energy parameters and neutron drip lines are identified.

The model predicts neutron star radii and crust-core transition densities based on symmetry energy.

The study links microscopic nuclear properties with macroscopic neutron star features.

Abstract

We investigate the influence of the nuclear symmetry energy and its density slope parameter on the neutron dripline and neutron star properties using a semi-classical liquid drop model (LDM) and energy density functionals constrained by chiral effective field theory. To analyze finite nuclei and mass tables, the nuclear symmetry energy at saturation density is fixed, and the surface tension is determined to minimize the root-mean-square deviation of the total binding energy for 2208 nuclei. Correlations between symmetry energy parameters and neutron driplines, crust-core transition densities, and the radii of $1.4\,\msun$ neutron stars are explored using the LDM framework. Additionally, we examine the relationship between macroscopic properties, such as neutron star radii ($R_{1.4}$), and microscopic properties, including the number of isotopes and the last bound nucleus for $Z=28$, within the LDM context.