Probing neutron-star matter in the lab: similarities and differences between binary mergers and heavy-ion collisions
Abstract
Binary neutron-star mergers and heavy-ion collisions are related through the properties of the hot and dense nuclear matter formed during these extreme events. In particular, low-energy heavy-ion collisions offer exciting prospects to recreate such extreme conditions in the laboratory. However, it remains unexplored to what degree those collisions can actually reproduce hot and dense matter formed in binary neutron star mergers. As a way to understand similarities and differences between these systems, we discuss their geometry and perform a direct numerical comparison of the thermodynamic conditions probed in both collisions. To enable a direct comparison, we employ a finite-temperature equation of state able to describe the entire high-energy phase diagram of quantum chromodynamics. Putting side by side the evolution of both systems, we find that laboratory heavy-ion collisions at the energy range of E_(lab) = 0.4–0.6 A MeV probe (thermodynamic) states of matter that are very similar to those created in binary neutron-star mergers. These results can inform future low-energy heavy-ion collisions probing this regime.
Additional Information
The authors thank M. Alford, T. Galatyuk, J. Noronha-Hostler, and C. Raithel for insightful discussions and comments. E. R. M. gratefully acknowledges support as the John A. Wheeler fellow at the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, and through fellowships at the Princeton Gravity Initiative, and the Institute for Advanced Study. A. M. acknowledges the Stern-Gerlach Postdoctoral fellowship of the Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft. J. S. thank the Samson AG and the BMBF through the ErUM-Data project for funding. V. D. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation under Grants No. PHY1748621, No. NP3M PHY-2116686, and No. MUSES OAC-2103680. L. R. acknowledges funding by the State of Hesse within the Research Cluster ELEMENTS (Project ID 500/10.006), by the ERC Advanced Grant "JETSET: Launching, propagation and emission of relativistic jets from binary mergers and across mass scales" (Grant No. 884631), and by HGS-HIRe for FAIR. H. S. acknowledges the Walter Greiner Gesellschaft zur Förderung der physikalischen Grundlagenforschung e.V. through the Judah M. Eisenberg Laureatus Chair at Goethe Universität.Attached Files
Accepted Version - 2201.13150.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 121210
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20230501-297052000.25
- Princeton University
- Institute for Advanced Study
- Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft
- Samson AG
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)
- PHY-1748621
- NSF
- PHY-2116686
- NSF
- OAC-2103680
- NSF
- 500/10.006
- State of Hesse
- 884631
- European Research Council (ERC)
- Helmholtz Graduate School for Hadron and Ion Research
- Walter Greiner Society
- Created
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2023-05-02Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2023-05-02Created from EPrint's last_modified field