Dr Thomas Klähn

From neutron stars to heavy ion collisions, and how to eliminate the asymmetry

Neutron stars are very asymmetric objects with respect to the isospin, e.g., the number of protons and neutrons differ largely. Consequently, the equation of state as the relation between (energy-)density and pressure will differ from that of fairly isospin symmetric matter as we find it in heavy ion collisions. As there is some hope to indirectly measure the neutron star EoS from mass and radius observations even, or in particular, at densities far beyond saturation the question arises, how significantly different these systems are and whether one could be able to give limits on the symmetric EoS at supersaturation assuming the NS EoS is known. I will present an idea we currently develop which might lead to a positive answer based on a few simple assumptions.