The nuclear physics of neutron stars

J. Piekarewicz

Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306.

Recibido el 13 de abril de 2008
Aceptado el 23 de junio de 2008

Abstract

A remarkable fact about spherically–symmetric neutron stars in hydrostatic equilibrium — the so–called Schwarzschild stars — is that the only physics that they are sensitive to is the equation of state of neutron–rich matter. As such, neutron stars provide a myriad of observables that may be used to constrain poorly known aspects of the nuclear interaction under extreme conditions of density. After discussing many of the fascinating phases encountered in neutron stars, I will address how powerful theoretical, experimental, and observational constraints may be used to place stringent limits on the equation of state of neutron–rich matter.

Keywords: Nuclear matter; neutron stars; effective interactions.

Resumen

Un hecho sorprendente acerca de las estrellas de neutrones con simetría esférica y en equilibrio hidroestático — las llamadas estrellas de Schwarzschild — es que su dinámica solo depende de la ecuación de estado de materia nuclear asimétrica. Por lo tanto, las estrellas de neutrones proporcionan una gran diversidad de observables que pueden ser utilizadas para determinar las interacciones nucleares bajo condiciones extremas de densidad. Después de introducir varias fases presentes en las estrellas de neutrones, discutiré como usar argumentos teóricos, experimentales y observacionales para limitar la ecuación de estado de materia nuclear asimétrica.

Descriptores: Materia nuclear; estrellas de neutrones; interacciones efectivas.

PACS: 21.65.+f; 26.60.+c; 21.30.Fe

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Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to the organizers of the XXXI Symposium on Nuclear Physics for their kind invitation and hospitality. The author also wishes to acknowledge his many collaborators that were involved in this work — especially Prof. C.J. Horowitz. This work was supported in part by United States Department of Energy under grant DE–FD05–92ER40750.

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