Location: Cyclotron Building (434), Seminar Room
Dr. Bao-An Li, Arkansas State University
Constraining the Radii of Neutron Stars with Terrestrial Nuclear Laboratory
Data
Abstract:
In this talk I will discuss the importance, opportunities and possible strategies for constraining the equation of state of neutron-rich matter with heavy-ion reactions. In particular, neutron star radii are primarily determined by the pressure of isospin asymmetric matter which is proportional to the slope of the nuclear symmetry energy. Available terrestrial laboratory data on the isospin diffusion in heavy-ion reactions at intermediate energies and studies of the size of neutron skin in 208Pb constrain the slope of the symmetry energy. Using this constraint, we show that the radius (radiation radius) of a 1.4 solar mass neutron star is between 11.5 (14.4) and 13.6 (16.3) km. The available laboratory data also indicates that the direct URCA process will occur in neutron stars with masses larger than about 1.39 solar masses.