Showing papers on "Nuclear matter published in 2021"

Charge radii of exotic potassium isotopes challenge nuclear theory and the magic character of N = 32

Abstract: Nuclear charge radii are sensitive probes of different aspects of the nucleon–nucleon interaction and the bulk properties of nuclear matter, providing a stringent test and challenge for nuclear theory. Experimental evidence suggested a new magic neutron number at N = 32 (refs. 1–3) in the calcium region, whereas the unexpectedly large increases in the charge radii4,5 open new questions about the evolution of nuclear size in neutron-rich systems. By combining the collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy method with β-decay detection, we were able to extend charge radii measurements of potassium isotopes beyond N = 32. Here we provide a charge radius measurement of 52K. It does not show a signature of magic behaviour at N = 32 in potassium. The results are interpreted with two state-of-the-art nuclear theories. The coupled cluster theory reproduces the odd–even variations in charge radii but not the notable increase beyond N = 28. This rise is well captured by Fayans nuclear density functional theory, which, however, overestimates the odd–even staggering effect in charge radii. These findings highlight our limited understanding of the nuclear size of neutron-rich systems, and expose problems that are present in some of the best current models of nuclear theory. The charge radii of potassium isotopes up to 52K are measured, and show no sign of magicity at 32 neutrons as previously suggested in calcium. The observations are interpreted with coupled cluster and density functional theory calculations.

Neutron Stars and the Nuclear Matter Equation of State

Abstract: Neutron stars provide a window into the properties of dense nuclear matter. Several recent observational and theoretical developments provide powerful constraints on their structure and internal co...

Constraining Neutron-Star Matter with Microscopic and Macroscopic Collisions

Abstract: Interpreting high-energy, astrophysical phenomena, such as supernova explosions or neutron-star collisions, requires a robust understanding of matter at supranuclear densities. However, our knowledge about dense matter explored in the cores of neutron stars remains limited. Fortunately, dense matter is not only probed in astrophysical observations, but also in terrestrial heavy-ion collision experiments. In this work, we use Bayesian inference to combine data from astrophysical multi-messenger observations of neutron stars and from heavy-ion collisions of gold nuclei at relativistic energies with microscopic nuclear theory calculations to improve our understanding of dense matter. We find that the inclusion of heavy-ion collision data indicates an increase in the pressure in dense matter relative to previous analyses, shifting neutron-star radii towards larger values, consistent with recent NICER observations. Our findings show that constraints from heavy-ion collision experiments show a remarkable consistency with multi-messenger observations and provide complementary information on nuclear matter at intermediate densities. This work combines nuclear theory, nuclear experiment, and astrophysical observations, and shows how joint analyses can shed light on the properties of neutron-rich supranuclear matter over the density range probed in neutron stars.

Chiral Effective Field Theory and the High-Density Nuclear Equation of State

Abstract: Born in the aftermath of core-collapse supernovae, neutron stars contain matter under extraordinary conditions of density and temperature that are difficult to reproduce in the laboratory. In recen...

Coupled Boltzmann transport equations of heavy quarks and quarkonia in quark-gluon plasma

Abstract: We develop a framework of coupled transport equations for open heavy flavor and quarkonium states, in order to describe their transport inside the quark-gluon plasma. Our framework is capable of studying simultaneously both open and hidden heavy flavor observables in heavy-ion collision experiments and can account for both, uncorrelated and correlated recombination. Our recombination implementation depends on real-time open heavy quark and antiquark distributions. We carry out consistency tests to show how the interplay among open heavy flavor transport, quarkonium dissociation and recombination drives the system to equilibrium. We then apply our framework to study bottomonium production in heavy-ion collisions. We include ϒ(1S), ϒ(2S), ϒ(3S), χb(1P) and χb(2P) in the framework and take feed-down contributions during the hadronic gas stage into account. Cold nuclear matter effects are included by using nuclear parton distribution functions for the initial primordial heavy flavor production. A calibrated 2 + 1 dimensional viscous hydrodynamics is used to describe the bulk QCD medium. We calculate both the nuclear modification factor RAA of all bottomonia states and the azimuthal angular anisotropy coefficient v2 of the ϒ(1S) state and find that our results agree reasonably with experimental measurements. Our calculations indicate that correlated cross-talk recombination is an important production mechanism of bottomonium in current heavy-ion experiments. The importance of correlated recombination can be tested experimentally by measuring the ratio of RAA(χb(1P)) and RAA(ϒ(2S)).

Unified weak and strong coupling framework for nuclear matter and neutron stars

Abstract: Ab initio methods using weakly interacting nucleons give a good description of condensed nuclear matter up to densities comparable to the nuclear saturation density. At higher densities strong interactions between overlapping nucleons become important; we propose that the interactions will continuously switch over to follow a holographic model in this region. In order to implement this, we construct hybrid equations of state (EOSs) where various models are used for low-density nuclear matter, and the holographic V-QCD model is used for nonperturbative high-density nuclear matter as well as for quark matter. We carefully examine all existing constraints from astrophysics of compact stars and discuss their implications for the hybrid EOSs. Thanks to the stiffness of the V-QCD EOS for nuclear matter, we obtain a large family of viable hybrid EOSs passing the constraints. We find that quark matter cores in neutron stars are unstable due to the strongly first-order deconfinement transition and predict bounds on the tidal deformability as well as on the radius of neutron stars. By relying on universal relations, we also constrain characteristic peak frequencies of gravitational waves produced in neutron star mergers.

Nuclear-Physics Multi-Messenger Astrophysics Constraints on the Neutron-Star Equation of State: Adding NICER's PSR J0740+6620 Measurement

Abstract: In the past few years, new observations of neutron stars and neutron-star mergers have provided a wealth of data that allow one to constrain the equation of state of nuclear matter at densities above nuclear saturation density. However, most observations were based on neutron stars with masses of about 1.4 solar masses, probing densities up to $\sim$ 3-4 times the nuclear saturation density. Even higher densities are probed inside massive neutron stars such as PSR J0740+6620. Very recently, new radio observations provided an update to the mass estimate for PSR J0740+6620 and X-ray observations by the NICER and XMM telescopes constrained its radius. Based on these new measurements, we revisit our previous nuclear-physics multi-messenger astrophysics constraints and derive updated constraints on the equation of state describing the neutron-star interior. By combining astrophysical observations of two radio pulsars, two NICER measurements, the two gravitational-wave detections GW170817 and GW190425, detailed modeling of the kilonova AT2017gfo, as well as the gamma-ray burst GRB170817A, we are able to estimate the radius of a typical 1.4-solar mass neutron star to be $11.94^{+0.76}_{-0.87} \rm{km}$ at 90\% confidence. Our analysis allows us to revisit the upper bound on the maximum mass of neutron stars and disfavours the presence of a strong first-order phase transition from nuclear matter to exotic forms of matter, such as quark matter, inside neutron stars.

Rapidly Spinning Compact Stars with Deconfinement Phase Transition

Abstract: We study rapidly spinning compact stars with equations of state featuring a first-order phase transition between strongly coupled nuclear matter and deconfined quark matter by employing the gauge/gravity duality. We consider a family of models that allow purely hadronic uniformly rotating stars with masses up to approximately 2.9 M ⊙, and are therefore compatible with the interpretation that the secondary component () in GW190814 is a neutron star. These stars have central densities that are several times the nuclear saturation density, so that strong coupling and non-perturbative effects become crucial. We construct models where the maximal mass of static (rotating) stars M TOV (M max) is either determined by the secular instability or a phase-transition induced collapse. We find the largest values for M max/M TOV in cases where the phase transition determines M max, which shifts our fit result to , a value slightly above the Breu–Rezzolla bound inferred from models without phase transition.

Mining for Gluon Saturation at Colliders

Abstract: Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of strong interactions of quarks and gluons collectively called partons, the basic constituents of all nuclear matter. Its non-abelian character manifests in nature in the form of two remarkable properties: color confinement and asymptotic freedom. At high energies, perturbation theory can result in the growth and dominance of very gluon densities at small-x. If left uncontrolled, this growth can result in gluons eternally growing violating a number of mathematical bounds. The resolution to this problem lies by balancing gluon emissions by recombinating gluons at high energies: phenomena of gluon saturation. High energy nuclear and particle physics experiments have spent the past decades quantifying the structure of protons and nuclei in terms of their fundamental constituents confirming predicted extraordinary behavior of matter at extreme density and pressure conditions. In the process they have also measured seemingly unexpected phenomena. We will give a state of the art review of the underlying theoretical and experimental tools and measurements pertinent to gluon saturation physics. We will argue for the need of high energy electron-proton/ion colliders such as the proposed EIC (USA) and LHeC (Europe) to consolidate our knowledge of QCD knowledge in the small x kinematic domains.

New equations of state constrained by nuclear physics, observations, and QCD calculations of high-density nuclear matter

Abstract: We present new equations of state for applications in core-collapse supernova and neutron star merger simulations. We start by introducing an effective mass parametrization that is fit to recent microscopic calculations up to twice saturation density. This is important to capture the predicted thermal effects, which have been shown to determine the proto--neutron star contraction in supernova simulations. The parameter range of the energy-density functional underlying the equation of state is constrained by chiral effective field theory results at nuclear densities as well as by functional renormalization group computations at high densities based on QCD. We further implement observational constraints from measurements of heavy neutron stars, the gravitational wave signal of GW170817, and from the recent NICER results. Finally, we study the resulting allowed ranges for the equation of state and for properties of neutron stars, including the predicted ranges for the neutron star radius and maximum mass.

Probing the Nuclear Equation of State from the Existence of a ∼2.6 M⊙ Neutron Star: The GW190814 Puzzle

Abstract: On 14 August 2019, the LIGO/Virgo collaboration observed a compact object with mass ∼2.59−0.09+0.08M⊙, as a component of a system where the main companion was a black hole with mass ∼23M⊙. A scientific debate initiated concerning the identification of the low mass component, as it falls into the neutron star–black hole mass gap. The understanding of the nature of GW190814 event will offer rich information concerning open issues, the speed of sound and the possible phase transition into other degrees of freedom. In the present work, we made an effort to probe the nuclear equation of state along with the GW190814 event. Firstly, we examine possible constraints on the nuclear equation of state inferred from the consideration that the low mass companion is a slow or rapidly rotating neutron star. In this case, the role of the upper bounds on the speed of sound is revealed, in connection with the dense nuclear matter properties. Secondly, we systematically study the tidal deformability of a possible high mass candidate existing as an individual star or as a component one in a binary neutron star system. As the tidal deformability and radius are quantities very sensitive on the neutron star equation of state, they are excellent counters on dense matter properties. We conjecture that similar isolated neutron stars or systems may exist in the universe and their possible future observation will shed light on the maximum neutron star mass problem.

Cold quark matter at (NLO)-L-3 : Soft contributions

Abstract: In a tour de force calculation, using new computational techniques, the authors compute the contribution of soft gluons, gluons with momenta smaller than the Debye screening mass, to the pressure of cold nuclear matter, a QCD medium at zero temperature but large chemical potential, at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order.

Magnetars and axion-like particles: probes with the hard X-ray spectrum

Abstract: Quiescent hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray emission from neutron stars constitute a promising frontier to explore axion-like-particles (ALPs). ALP production in the core peaks at energies of a few keV to a few hundreds of keV; subsequently, the ALPs escape and convert to photons in the magnetosphere. The emissivity goes as $\sim T^6$ while the conversion probability is enhanced for large magnetic fields, making magnetars, with their high core temperatures and strong magnetic fields, ideal targets for probing ALPs. We compute the energy spectrum of photons resulting from conversion of ALPs in the magnetosphere and then compare it against hard X-ray data from NuSTAR, INTEGRAL, and XMM-Newton for a set of eight magnetars for which such data exists. Upper limits are placed on the product of the ALP-nucleon and ALP-photon couplings. For the production in the core, we perform a careful calculation of the ALP emissivity in degenerate nuclear matter modeled by a relativistic mean field theory. The reduction of the emissivity due to improvements to the one-pion exchange approximation is incorporated, as is the strong suppression of the emissivity due to nucleon superfluidity in the neutron star core. A range of core temperatures is considered, corresponding to different models of the steady heat transfer from the core to the stellar surface. Our treatment also includes the first calculation of the emissivity due to $n+p \rightarrow n+p+a$ processes in the limit of strongly degenerate nuclear matter. For the subsequent conversion, we solve the coupled differential equations mixing ALPs and photons in the magnetosphere. The conversion occurs due to a competition between the dipolar magnetic field and the photon refractive index induced by the external magnetic field. Semi-analytic expressions are provided alongside the full numerical results.

Global extraction of the jet transport coefficient in cold nuclear matter

Abstract: Within the framework of the generalized QCD factorization formalism, a set of nuclear-dependent observables all arise from the quark-gluon and gluon-gluon correlation functions, which are closely connected to the well-known jet transport coefficient ($\stackrel{^}{q}$) for the nucleus. In this paper, we perform the first global analysis of $\stackrel{^}{q}$ for cold nuclear matter with a kinematics dependent parametrization. The analysis takes into account the world data on transverse momentum broadening in semi-inclusive electron-nucleus deep inelastic scattering, Drell-Yan dilepton and heavy quarkonium production in proton-nucleus collisions, as well as the nuclear modification of the structure functions in deep inelastic scattering, comprising a total of 215 data points from 8 datasets. Within our scheme, we clarify quantitatively the universality and kinematics dependence of the nuclear medium property as encoded in $\stackrel{^}{q}$. We expect that the determined parametrization of $\stackrel{^}{q}$ in cold nuclear matter will have significant impact on precise identification of the transport property of hot dense medium created in heavy ion collisions.

Production and attenuation of cosmic-ray boosted dark matter

Abstract: Light sub-GeV halo dark matter (DM) particles up-scattered by high-energy cosmic-rays (CRs) (referred to as CRDM) can be energetic and become detectable by conventional DM direct detection experiments. We perform a refined analysis on the exclusion bounds of the spin-independent DM-nucleon scattering cross section $\sigma_{\chi p}$ in this approach. For the exclusion lower bounds, we determine the parameter of the effective distance $D_\text{eff}$ for CRDM production using spatial-dependent CR fluxes and including the contributions from the major heavy CR nuclear species. We obtain $D_\text{eff}\simeq 9$ kpc for CRDM particles with kinetic energy above $\sim 1~\text{GeV}$, which pushes the corresponding exclusion lower bounds down to $\sigma_{\chi p} \sim 4\times 10^{-32}~\text{cm}^2$ for DM particle mass at MeV scale and below. For the exclusion upper bounds from Earth attenuation, previous estimations neglecting the nuclear form factor leaded to typical exclusion upper bounds of $\sigma_{\chi p}\sim\mathcal{O}(10^{-28})~\text{cm}^2$ from the XENON1T data. Using both the analytic and numerical approaches, we show that for CRDM particles, the presence of the nuclear form factor strongly suppresses the effect of Earth attenuation. Consequently, the cross section that can be excluded by the XENON1T data can be a few orders of magnitude higher, which closes the gap in the cross sections excluded by the XENON1T experiment and that by the astrophysical measurements such that for the cosmic microwave background (CMB), galactic gas cloud cooling, and structure formation, etc..

Resonant shattering flares as multimessenger probes of the nuclear symmetry energy

Abstract: The behaviour of the nuclear symmetry energy near saturation density is important for our understanding of dense nuclear matter. This density dependence can be parameterised by the nuclear symmetry energy and its derivatives evaluated at nuclear saturation density. In this work, we show that the core-crust interface mode of a neutron star is sensitive to these parameters, through the (density-weighted) shear-speed within the crust, which is in turn dependent on the symmetry energy profile of dense matter. We calculate the frequency at which the neutron star quadrupole ($\ell = 2$) crust-core interface mode must be driven by the tidal field of its binary partner to trigger a Resonant Shattering Flare (RSF). We demonstrate that coincident multimessenger timing of a RSF and gravitational wave chirp from a neutron star merger would enable us to place strong constraints on the symmetry energy parameters, competitive with those from current nuclear experiments.

Manifestation of hidden symmetries in baryonic matter: From finite nuclei to neutron stars

Abstract: When hadron-quark continuity is formulated in terms of a topology change at a density higher than twice the nuclear matter density (n0), the core of massive compact stars can be described in terms ...

Dark matter admixed neutron stars

Abstract: Neutron stars could contain a mixture of ordinary nuclear matter and dark matter, such that dark matter could influence observable properties of the star, such as its mass and radius. We study these dark matter admixed neutron stars for two choices of dark matter: a free Fermi gas and mirror dark matter. In addition to solving the multifluid Tolmon-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations for static solutions and presenting mass-radius diagrams, we focus on two computations that are lacking in the literature. The first is a rigorous determination of stability over the whole of parameter space, which we do using two different methods. The first method is based on harmonic time-dependent perturbations to the static solutions and on solving for the radial oscillation frequency. The second method, which is less well-known, conveniently makes use of unperturbed, static solutions only. The second computation is of the radial oscillation frequency, for fundamental modes, over large swaths of parameter space.

Impact of the nuclear symmetry energy on the post-merger phase of a binary neutron star coalescence

Abstract: The nuclear symmetry energy plays a key role in determining the equation of state of dense, neutron-rich matter, which governs the properties of both terrestrial nuclear matter as well as astrophysical neutron stars. A recent measurement of the neutron skin thickness from the PREX collaboration has lead to new constraints on the slope of the nuclear symmetry energy, L, which can be directly compared to inferences from gravitational-wave observations of the first binary neutron star merger inspiral, GW170817 In this paper, we explore a new regime for potentially constraining the slope, L, of the nuclear symmetry energy with future gravitational wave events: the post-merger phase a binary neutron star coalescence. In particular, we go beyond the inspiral phase, where imprints of the slope parameter L may be inferred from measurements of the tidal deformability, to consider imprints on the post-merger dynamics, gravitational wave emission, and dynamical mass ejection. To this end, we perform a set of targeted neutron star merger simulations in full general relativity using new finite-temperature equations of state, which systematically vary L. We find that the post-merger dynamics and gravitational wave emission are mostly insensitive to the slope of the nuclear symmetry energy. In contrast, we find that dynamical mass ejection contains a weak imprint of L, with large values of L leading to systematically enhanced ejecta.

Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics Constraints on the High Density Matter Equation of State

Abstract: (1) This review has been written in memory of Steven Moszkowski who unexpectedly passed away in December 2020. It has been inspired by our many years of discussions. Steven’s enthusiasm, drive and determination to understand atomic nuclei in simple terms of basic laws of physics was infectious. He sought the fundamental origin of nuclear forces in free space, and their saturation and modification in nuclear medium. His untimely departure left our job unfinished but his legacy lives on. (2) Focusing on the nuclear force acting in nuclear matter of astrophysical interest and its equation of state (EoS), we take several typical snapshots of evolution of the theory of nuclear forces. We start from original ideas in the 1930s moving through to its overwhelming diversity today. The development is supported by modern observational and terrestrial data and their inference in the multimessenger era, as well as by novel mathematical techniques and computer power. (3) We find that, despite the admirable effort both in theory and measurement, we are facing multiple models dependent on a large number of variable correlated parameters which cannot be constrained by data, which are not yet accurate, nor sensitive enough, to identify the theory closest to reality. The role of microphysics in the theories is severely limited or neglected, mostly deemed to be too difficult to tackle. (4) Taking the EoS of high-density matter as an example, we propose to develop models, based, as much as currently possible, on the microphysics of the nuclear force, with a minimal set of parameters, chosen under clear physical guidance. Still somewhat phenomenological, such models could pave the way to realistic predictions, not tracing the measurement, but leading it.

Ab initio coupling of jets to collective flow in the opacity expansion approach

Abstract: We calculate the leading corrections to jet momentum broadening and medium-induced branching that arise from the velocity of the moving medium at first order in opacity. These results advance our knowledge of jet quenching and demonstrate how it couples to collective flow of the quark-gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions and to the orbital motion of partons in cold nuclear matter in deep inelastic scattering at the electron-ion collider. We also compute the leading corrections to jet momentum broadening due to transverse gradients of temperature and density. We find that these effects lead to both anisotropic transverse momentum diffusion proportional to the medium velocity and anisotropic medium-induced radiation emitted preferentially in the direction of the flow. We isolate the relevant sub-eikonal corrections by working with jets composed of scalar particles with arbitrary color factors interacting with the medium by scalar QCD. Appropriate substitution of the color factors and light-front wave functions allow us to immediately apply the results to a range of processes including $q \rightarrow q g$ branching in real QCD. The resulting general expressions can be directly coupled to hydrodynamic simulations on an event-by-event basis to study the correlations between jet quenching and the dynamics of various forms of nuclear matter.

Unveiling the nuclear matter EoS from neutron star properties: a supervised machine learning approach

Abstract: We explore supervised machine learning methods in extracting the non-linear maps between neutron stars (NS) observables and the equation of state (EoS) of nuclear matter. Using a Taylor expansion around saturation density, we have generated a set of model independent EoS describing stellar matter constrained by nuclear matter parameters that are thermodynamically consistent, causal, and consistent with astrophysical observations. From this set, the full non-linear dependencies of the NS tidal deformability and radius on the nuclear matter parameters were learned using two distinct machine learning methods. Due to the high accuracy of the learned non-linear maps, we were able to analyze the impact of each nuclear matter parameter on the NS observables, identify dependencies on the EoS properties beyond linear correlations and predict which stars allow us to draw strong constraints.

Hybrid neutron stars in the mass-radius diagram

Abstract: We present a systematic investigation of the possible locations for the special point (SP), a unique feature of hybrid neutron stars in the mass-radius. The study is performed within the two-phase approach where the high-density (quark matter) phase is described by the constant-sound-speed (CSS) equation of state (EoS) and the nuclear matter phase around saturation density is varied from very soft (APR) to stiff (DD2 with excluded nucleon volume. Different construction schemes for the deconfinement transition are applied: Maxwell construction, mixed phase construction and parabolic interpolation. We demonstrate for the first time that the SP is invariant not only against changing the nuclear matter EoS, but also against variation of the construction schemes for the phase transition. Since the SP serves as a proxy for the maximum mass and accessible radii of massive hybrid stars, we draw conclusions for the limiting masses and radii of hybrid neutron stars.