We show that microscopic calculations based on chiral effective field theoryinteractions constrain the properties of neutron-rich matter below nucleardensities to a much higher degree than is reflected in commonly used equationsof state. Combined with observed neutron star masses, our results lead to aradius R = 9.7 - 13.9 km for a 1.4 M_{solar} star, where the theoretical rangeis due, in about equal amounts, to uncertainties in many-body forces and to theextrapolation to high densities.
展开▼
