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Constraints on the skewness coefficient of symmetric nuclear matter within the nonlinear relativistic mean field model

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Abstract

Within the nonlinear relativistic mean field (NL-RMF) model, we show that both the pressure of symmetric nuclear matter at supra-saturation densities and the maximum mass of neutron stars are sensitive to the skewness coefficient, \(J_0\), of symmetric nuclear matter. Using experimental constraints on the pressure of symmetric nuclear matter at supra-saturation densities from flow data in heavy-ion collisions and the astrophysical observation of a large mass neutron star PSR J0348+0432, with the former favoring a smaller \(J_0\) while the latter favors a larger \(J_0\), we extract a constraint of \(-\,494\,\mathrm {MeV}\le J_0\le -\,10 \,\mathrm{MeV}\) based on the NL-RMF model. This constraint is compared with the results obtained in other analyses.

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  1. School of Physics and Astronomy and Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Bao-Jun Cai & Lie-Wen Chen

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Dedicated to Joseph B. Natowitz in honour of his 80th birthday.

This work was supported in part by the Major State Basic Research Development Program (973 Program) in China (Nos. 2013CB834405 and 2015CB856904), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11625521, 11275125 and 11135011), the Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning, Key Laboratory for Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology, Ministry of Education, China, and the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (No. 11DZ2260700).

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Cai, BJ., Chen, LW. Constraints on the skewness coefficient of symmetric nuclear matter within the nonlinear relativistic mean field model. NUCL SCI TECH 28, 185 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-017-0329-1

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