Predictions of the canonical-mass neutron star radius based on chiral effective field theory

Neutron stars are of great interest for studies in both astrophysics and nuclear physics. The central densities of these highly exotic objects can exceed several times normal nuclear density. In this work [1] we use a method for obtaining the radius of canonical-mass neutron stars (that is, stars with a mass of approximately 1.4 solar masses). We start with equations of state for beta-stable matter based on high-quality chiral two-nucleon forces and the leading chiral three-nucleon force up to moderately high density and then use polytropic extrapolation to extend the equation of state to higher densities. We find good agreement between our predictions and recent observational constraints, such as those from LIGO/Virgo measurements. [1] F. Sammarruca and Randy Millerson, J. Phys. G Nucl. Part. Phys. 46, 024001 (2019)