Abstract:
Neutron stars contain the densest matter found in our present-day Universe, with the density of their cores even exceeding those of individual atomic nuclei. Whether these conditions are extreme enough to allow the appearance of a new phase of matter consisting of free quarks and gluons, cold quark matter, however currently remains an open question.
In my talk, I will describe recent efforts to combine ab-initio nuclear and particle theory calculations with neutron-star observations to constrain the properties of strongly interacting matter inside neutron-star cores. In particular, I will present results from a new study indicating that at densities corresponding to the cores of maximally massive stable neutron stars, the properties of QCD matter rapidly move towards the conformal limit, indicating the likely presence of deconfined degrees of freedom. I will also briefly discuss, what kinds of new theoretical or observational results would be needed to further strengthen this conclusion.
Online meeting room:
https://cern.zoom.us/j/68080733534?pwd=OXlZL1pmMjdBS0I0bTUwcjRKV2g1UT09 (ID: 680 8073 3534 Passcode: 337566)