Heavy ion collision experiments performed with particle accelerators are a complementary way of producing and detecting matter at high densities and under extreme conditions. Recent advances in multi-messenger astronomy have enabled an international research team of scientists from Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and Sweden to gain new insights into fundamental interactions in nuclear matter. Combining data from heavy ion experiments, gravitational wave measurements and other astronomical observations, scientists are limiting the properties of nuclear matter inside neutron stars. Sabrina Huth, of the Institute of Nuclear Physics at Darmstadt University of Technology, said: “The combination of knowledge from nuclear theory, nuclear experiments and astrophysical observations is necessary to shed light on the properties of neutron-rich matter in neutron stars. “We find that the limitations of gold ion collisions with particle accelerators show a remarkable consistency with astrophysical observations, although they are obtained by completely different methods.” In this study, the scientists included information obtained from heavy ion collisions in a framework that combines astronomical observations of electromagnetic signals, gravitational wave measurements, and high-performance astrophysical calculations with theoretical nuclear physics calculations. The authors used data from gold ion collision experiments at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, as well as the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States, in a multi-step process that analyzes the observational , such as neutron star mass measurements from radio observations and information from the Internal Neutron Star Composition. Additional limitations in the density range where nuclear theory and astrophysical observations are less sensitive have been permitted by the inclusion of heavy ion collision data in the analysis. This helped to develop a more complete knowledge of dense matter. Improved constraints from heavy ion collisions will help bridge the gap between nuclear theory and astrophysical observations in the future by providing additional data. Experiments that investigate higher densities while reducing experimental uncertainties, in particular, offer great promise for providing new constraints on neutron star characteristics. In the coming years, new knowledge from both sides can be incorporated into the framework to improve our understanding of dense matter. Magazine report:
