Special Astrophysics Seminar

Neutron stars and strong interactions

Aleksi Kurkela

Department of Physics
McGill University

The dominant force in a neutron star is the strong interaction which is described by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). In principle, observable quantities such as the mass-radius relation may be derived from the theory. However, due to the non-linear nature of QCD, the theoretical uncertainties are under control only in very few special regimes of density. In my talk, I will describe how microscopic calculations in those regimes can be used to restrict the possible equations of states and hence the mass-radius relation.