skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Spin-polarized Neutron Matter, the Maximum Mass of Neutron Stars, and GW170817

Abstract

In this work, we investigate how a phase transition from neutron-star matter to spin-polarized neutron matter affects the equation of state and mass–radius relation of neutron stars. While general extension schemes for the equation of state allow for high pressures inside neutron stars, we find that a phase transition to spin-polarized neutron matter excludes extreme regimes. Hence, such a transition limits the maximum mass of neutron stars that lie below 2.6–2.9 M, depending on the microscopic nuclear forces used, while significantly larger masses could be reached without these constraints. Furthermore, these limits are in good agreement with recent constraints extracted from the neutron-star merger GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart. Assuming the description in terms of spin-polarized neutron matter to be valid in the center of neutron stars, we find that stars with a large spin-polarized domain in their core are ruled out by GW170817.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Darmstadt Univ. of Technology (Germany); GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Darmstadt (Germany). ExtreMe Matter Inst. (EMMI); Max Planck Inst. fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
OSTI Identifier:
1822725
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-19-27912
Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357; TRN: US2214495
Grant/Contract Number:  
89233218CNA000001; AC52-06NA25396
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 892; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
IOP Publishing
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; dense matter; equations of state; neutron stars

Citation Formats

Tews, Ingo, and Schwenk, A. Spin-polarized Neutron Matter, the Maximum Mass of Neutron Stars, and GW170817. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab7232.
Tews, Ingo, & Schwenk, A. Spin-polarized Neutron Matter, the Maximum Mass of Neutron Stars, and GW170817. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab7232
Tews, Ingo, and Schwenk, A. 2020. "Spin-polarized Neutron Matter, the Maximum Mass of Neutron Stars, and GW170817". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab7232. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1822725.
@article{osti_1822725,
title = {Spin-polarized Neutron Matter, the Maximum Mass of Neutron Stars, and GW170817},
author = {Tews, Ingo and Schwenk, A.},
abstractNote = {In this work, we investigate how a phase transition from neutron-star matter to spin-polarized neutron matter affects the equation of state and mass–radius relation of neutron stars. While general extension schemes for the equation of state allow for high pressures inside neutron stars, we find that a phase transition to spin-polarized neutron matter excludes extreme regimes. Hence, such a transition limits the maximum mass of neutron stars that lie below 2.6–2.9 M⊙, depending on the microscopic nuclear forces used, while significantly larger masses could be reached without these constraints. Furthermore, these limits are in good agreement with recent constraints extracted from the neutron-star merger GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart. Assuming the description in terms of spin-polarized neutron matter to be valid in the center of neutron stars, we find that stars with a large spin-polarized domain in their core are ruled out by GW170817.},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ab7232},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1822725}, journal = {The Astrophysical Journal (Online)},
issn = {1538-4357},
number = 1,
volume = 892,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Mar 19 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Thu Mar 19 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}

Works referenced in this record:

Regulator artifacts in uniform matter for chiral interactions
journal, September 2016


Static Solutions of Einstein's Field Equations for Spheres of Fluid
journal, February 1939


Equation of state sensitivities when inferring neutron star and dense matter properties
journal, March 2019


New Constraints on Radii and Tidal Deformabilities of Neutron Stars from GW170817
journal, June 2018


Dense matter with eXTP
journal, August 2018


Nuclear Forces and Their Impact on Neutron-Rich Nuclei and Neutron-Rich Matter
journal, October 2015


A Massive Pulsar in a Compact Relativistic Binary
journal, April 2013


Masses, Radii, and the Equation of State of Neutron Stars
journal, September 2016


Colloquium : Three-body forces: From cold atoms to nuclei
journal, January 2013


Constraining the Maximum Mass of Neutron Stars from Multi-messenger Observations of GW170817
journal, November 2017


Colloquium : Measuring the neutron star equation of state using x-ray timing
journal, April 2016


The Maximum Mass of a Neutron Star
journal, October 1996


Gravitational-Wave Constraints on the Neutron-Star-Matter Equation of State
journal, April 2018


Quantum Monte Carlo calculation of the equation of state of neutron matter
journal, May 2009


A NICER View of PSR J0030+0451: Millisecond Pulsar Parameter Estimation
journal, December 2019


Quark matter droplets in neutron stars
journal, March 1993


The Equation of State from Observed Masses and Radii of Neutron Stars
journal, September 2010


PSR J0030+0451 Mass and Radius from NICER Data and Implications for the Properties of Neutron Star Matter
journal, December 2019


A NICER View of PSR J0030+0451: Implications for the Dense Matter Equation of State
journal, December 2019


Analyzing the Fierz rearrangement freedom for local chiral two-nucleon potentials
journal, November 2017


Equation of State and Neutron star Properties Constrained by Nuclear Physics and Observation
journal, July 2013


Gravitational Waves and Gamma-Rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A
journal, October 2017


Modeling GW170817 based on numerical relativity and its implications
journal, December 2017


Neutron Matter at Next-to-Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order in Chiral Effective Field Theory
journal, January 2013


On Massive Neutron Cores
journal, February 1939


Using Gravitational-wave Observations and Quasi-universal Relations to Constrain the Maximum Mass of Neutron Stars
journal, January 2018


GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
journal, October 2017


Chiral Three-Nucleon Interactions in Light Nuclei, Neutron- α Scattering, and Neutron Matter
journal, February 2016


A quantum Monte Carlo method for nucleon systems
journal, January 1999


Chiral effective field theory and nuclear forces
journal, June 2011


The Neutron star Interior Composition ExploreR (NICER): an Explorer mission of opportunity for soft x-ray timing spectroscopy
conference, September 2012


Relativistic Shapiro delay measurements of an extremely massive millisecond pulsar
journal, September 2019


Neutron matter from chiral effective field theory interactions
journal, August 2013


Modern theory of nuclear forces
journal, December 2009


Constraint on the maximum mass of neutron stars using GW170817 event
journal, July 2019


Determination of the Equation of State of Dense Matter
journal, October 2002


Quantum Monte Carlo Methods in Nuclear Physics: Recent Advances
journal, October 2019


Nuclear symmetry energy and hadron-quark mixed phase in neutron stars
journal, June 2019


Properties of the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817
journal, January 2019


The Nanograv Nine-Year data set: mass and Geometric Measurements of Binary Millisecond Pulsars
journal, December 2016


The equation of state of hot, dense matter and neutron stars
journal, March 2016


To which densities is spin-polarized neutron matter a weakly interacting Fermi gas?
journal, May 2015


From the microscopic to the macroscopic world: from nucleons to neutron stars
journal, August 2019


Improved chiral nucleon-nucleon potential up to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order
journal, May 2015


The Nuclear Equation of State and Neutron Star Masses
journal, November 2012


Maximum Mass of a Neutron Star
journal, February 1974


GW170817, general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations, and the neutron star maximum mass
journal, January 2018


Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger
journal, October 2017


DETERMINAT10N of Properties of Cold Stars in General Relativity by a Variational Method . .
journal, January 1973


Critical examination of constraints on the equation of state of dense matter obtained from GW170817
journal, October 2018


A two-solar-mass neutron star measured using Shapiro delay
journal, October 2010


Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of neutron matter with chiral three-body forces
journal, February 2016


Quantum Monte Carlo methods for nuclear physics
journal, September 2015


Generic conditions for stable hybrid stars
journal, October 2013


Quantum Monte Carlo Calculations with Chiral Effective Field Theory Interactions
journal, July 2013


Chiral 2N and 3N interactions and quantum Monte Carlo applications
journal, January 2016