Neutron Stars as Cosmic Laboratories for the Equation of State of Dense Matter

by Prof. James Lattimer (Stony Brook University)

Monday 9 Nov 2026, 14:00 → 15:30 Asia/Shanghai

Tsung-Dao Lee Institute/N6F-N600 - Lecture Room (Tsung-Dao Lee Institute)

Abstract:

Neutron stars have been observed in nearly every electromagnetic-wave band, in neutrinos, and in gravitational waves. This lecture explores how observations constrain many aspects of neutron stars and the properties of matter in their interiors. Radio-timing of pulsars have allowed accurately-measured masses of dozens of neutron stars and have set a lower limit to the neutron star maximum mass. X-ray and gravitational-wave observations have the potential for radius, and sometimes mass, measurements. Together with maximum mass information, these measurements permit inferences about their central densities and the possible existence of quark matter. Optical observations have allowed tracking of their thermal evolution from hot, young stars to cold objects over millions of years old, yielding details about neutrino-cooling process and their interior composition, including the properties of interior high-temperature superfluids. Neutrino observations of newly-born neutron stars also probe neutrino-matter interactions at high densities and help constrain the mechanisms underlying their parent supernovae. In parallel, studies of nuclear structure, such as binding energies, dipole polarizabilities and neutron skins, as well as heavy-ion collisions, provide complementary information, especially about the nuclear symmetry energy, that further constrain neutron star structure.

Speaker Bio:

James Lattimer is a Distinguished Professor of Physics & Astronomy at Stony Brook University. He received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, where his 1976 thesis famously proposed that r-process elements originate from decompressing neutron star matter ejected from mergers—a prediction validated by GW170817. He produced the first open-source equations of state for supernovae and neutron star merger simulations, and established the clear link between neutron star radii and the nuclear symmetry energy. He is a Fellow of the APS, a member of NASA's NICER team, and the recipient of the Hans A. Bethe Prize.

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