Inferring three-nucleon couplings from multi-messenger neutron-star observations

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Somasundaram, Rahul, Svensson, Isak, De, Soumi, Deneris, Andrew E., Dietz, Yannick, Landry, Philippe, Schwenk, Achim, Tews, Ingo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Somasundaram, Rahul
Svensson, Isak
De, Soumi
Deneris, Andrew E.
Dietz, Yannick
Landry, Philippe
Schwenk, Achim
Tews, Ingo
author_facet Somasundaram, Rahul
Svensson, Isak
De, Soumi
Deneris, Andrew E.
Dietz, Yannick
Landry, Philippe
Schwenk, Achim
Tews, Ingo
contents Understanding the interactions between nucleons in dense matter is an important challenge in theoretical physics. Effective field theories have emerged as the dominant approach to address this problem at low energies, with many successful applications to the structure of nuclei and the properties of dense nucleonic matter. However, how far into the interior of neutron stars these interactions can describe dense matter is an open question. Here, we develop a framework that enables the inference of three-nucleon couplings in dense matter directly from astrophysical neutron star observations. We apply this formalism to the LIGO/Virgo gravitational-wave event GW170817 and the X-ray measurements from NASA's Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer and establish direct constraints for the couplings that govern three-nucleon interactions in chiral effective field theory. Furthermore, we demonstrate how next-generation observations of a population of neutron star mergers can offer stringent constraints on three-nucleon couplings, potentially at a level comparable to those from laboratory data. Our work directly connects the microscopic couplings in quantum field theories to macroscopic observations of neutron stars, providing a way to test the consistency between low-energy couplings inferred from terrestrial and astrophysical data.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_00247
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Inferring three-nucleon couplings from multi-messenger neutron-star observations
Somasundaram, Rahul
Svensson, Isak
De, Soumi
Deneris, Andrew E.
Dietz, Yannick
Landry, Philippe
Schwenk, Achim
Tews, Ingo
Nuclear Theory
Understanding the interactions between nucleons in dense matter is an important challenge in theoretical physics. Effective field theories have emerged as the dominant approach to address this problem at low energies, with many successful applications to the structure of nuclei and the properties of dense nucleonic matter. However, how far into the interior of neutron stars these interactions can describe dense matter is an open question. Here, we develop a framework that enables the inference of three-nucleon couplings in dense matter directly from astrophysical neutron star observations. We apply this formalism to the LIGO/Virgo gravitational-wave event GW170817 and the X-ray measurements from NASA's Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer and establish direct constraints for the couplings that govern three-nucleon interactions in chiral effective field theory. Furthermore, we demonstrate how next-generation observations of a population of neutron star mergers can offer stringent constraints on three-nucleon couplings, potentially at a level comparable to those from laboratory data. Our work directly connects the microscopic couplings in quantum field theories to macroscopic observations of neutron stars, providing a way to test the consistency between low-energy couplings inferred from terrestrial and astrophysical data.
title Inferring three-nucleon couplings from multi-messenger neutron-star observations
topic Nuclear Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.00247