Bulk viscosity from neutron decays in dense matter
Oral-In-person
Abstract
When the dense matter inside neutron stars is compressed, it is pushed out of chemical equilibrium. To reestablish equilibrium, neutron decays and their inverses occur, resulting in bulk-viscous energy dissipation. In standard npe matter, the bulk viscosity due to the Urca process leads to bulk viscosity with one resonant peak as a function of temperature. I will discuss how the value of bulk viscosity at the peak is related to the symmetry energy as well as the possibility of a second peak in the bulk viscosity at higher temperature due to neutron decay into dark baryons.
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Publication: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.25838
https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.12133
Presenters
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Steven Harris
- Iowa State University