From quarks to gravitational waves: Neutron stars as a laboratory for fundamental physics

5 Dec 2016, 08:00 → 9 Dec 2016, 18:00 Europe/Zurich

4/3-006 - TH Conference Room (CERN)

Neutron stars are some of the most extraordinary objects in Nature. Their cores contain strongly interacting matter at densities substantially higher than what can be created in modern collider experiments, and thereby function as stellar laboratories for nuclear and quark matter. At the same time, the strong gravitational fields of neutron stars provide a unique testing ground for modified theories of gravity, and may offer contraints for various Beyond the Standard Model theories.  

The physics of neutron stars can be studied from various perspectives. On one hand, their macroscopic properties are being measured at a rapidly increasing precision with a broad set of tools. In particular, the anticipated observation of gravitational waves from neutron star mergers is expected to open a fundamentally new observational window into the bulk properties of the stars and the matter they contain. 

At the same time, one may approach the problem from the microscopic perspective, and understanding the physics of dense QCD matter is indeed a prominent problem at the intersection of theoretical particle and nuclear physics. First principles approaches, such as Chiral Effective Theory, perturbative QCD and lattice field theory, all have their severe limitations, and it is widely accepted by now that progress towards understanding the properties of the matter found in neutron star cores requires a strong interdiciplinary effort. 

The aim of our TH Institute is to bring together researchers from particle and nuclear theory as well as from observational astrophysics, who study the physics of dense strongly interacting matter and neutron stars from maximally different but complementary viewpoints. The key topics addressed by the Institute include:

- Extending the theoretical description of nuclear matter beyond saturation density

- The Equation of State of quark matter and its use in constraining neutron star matter

- Recent advances in neutron star observations; in particular the prospects of using gravitational wave detection to learn about neutron star matter

- Complementary approaches: phenomenological models, holography, etc.

- Neutron stars as laboratories for modified gravity theories and Beyond the Standard Model physics

Organisers : Aleksi Kurkela, Mark Alford, Diego Blas, Luciano Rezzolla, Achim Schwenk, Aleksi Vuorinen

Monday, 5 December

10:00 → 11:00 Neutron Star Radius Measurements, and Prospects for Future Constraints on the Dense Matter Equation of State

Speaker: Robert Rutledge (McGill University)

11:00 → 11:30 Measurements of neutron star masses and radii through X-ray spectral data

Speaker: Tolga Guver (Istanbul University)

cern_mr_talk_tguver.pdf

11:30 → 12:00 Direct atmosphere model fits of X-ray bursts: New neutron star radius constraints

Speaker: Joonas Nättilä (Tuorla Observatory & Nordita)

nattila_cern.pdf

14:00 → 15:00 Recent developments in the physics of neutron-star crusts

Speaker: Dr Nicolas Chamel (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

Chamel_CERN16.pdf

15:00 → 15:30 Cold QCD and Compact Stars: EOS, Cooling and Axions

Speaker: Armen Sedrakian (Frankfurt University)

SedrakianCERN.pdf

16:30 → 17:30 Discussion

Tuesday, 6 December

10:00 → 11:00 Gravitational waves from binary neutron star systems: from the equation of state to the properties of the signal using general relativistic numerical simulations

Speaker: Roberto de Pietri (Parma University)

2016_CERN.pdf

11:00 → 11:30 New paths to probing the nuclear equation of state via multimessenger signals from compact binary mergers involving neutron stars

Speaker: Vasileios Paschalidis

CERN2016.pdf

11:30 → 12:00 A new quark-hadron hybrid EOS for core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers

Speaker: Matthias Hempel (Basel University)

hempel_cern2016.pdf

14:00 → 15:00 Recent developments of nuclear interactions within chiral EFT and applications to nuclear matter and nuclei

Speaker: Kai Hebeler (TU Darmstadt)

CERN_hebeler.pdf

15:00 → 15:30 Nuclear matter at zero and finite temperatures based on chiral forces

Speaker: Arianna Carbone (TU Darmstadt)

Arianna_CERN_Dec2016.pdf

15:30 → 16:00 Transport phenomena inside superfluid neutron stars

Speaker: Laura Tolos (University of Groningen)

tolos-transport.pdf

16:30 → 17:30 Discussion

Wednesday, 7 December

10:00 → 11:00 Nuclear EoS, Hyperons and Neutron Stars

Speaker: Wolfram Weise (TU Munich)

CERN-TH 07 Dec 2016_Weise.pdf

11:00 → 11:30 High mass neutron stars with quark cores - constraints for the EoS

Speaker: David Blaschke (University of Wroclaw)

Blaschke_CERN-TH_2016.pdf

11:30 → 12:00 Models of Hyper and Hybrid Stars

Speaker: Stefan Schramm

CERN2016.pdf

14:00 → 15:00 The physics and astrophysics of merging neutron-star binaries

I will argue that if black holes represent one the most fascinating implications of Einstein's theory of gravity, neutron stars in binary system are arguably its richest laboratory, where gravity blends with astrophysics and particle physics. I will discuss the rapid recent progress made in modelling these systems and show how the inspiral and merger of a binary system of neutron stars is more than a strong source of gravitational waves. Indeed, while the gravitational signal can provide tight constraints on the equation of state for matter at nuclear densities, the formation of a black-hole--torus system can explain much of the phenomenology of short gamma-ray bursts, while the the ejection of matter during the merger can shed light on the chemical enrichment of the universe. The physics and astrophysics of merging neutron-star binaries

Speaker: Luciano Rezzolla (Goethe University Frankfurt)

15:30 → 16:00 Probing fundamental physics with universal relations for neutron stars

Speaker: Kent Yagi (Princeton University)

CERN-2016-universal-relations.pdf

16:00 → 17:00 Discussion

Thursday, 8 December

10:00 → 11:00 Beyond general relativity

Speaker: Konstantinos Kokkotas

201612108_Geneva_Kokkotas.pdf

11:00 → 11:30 Neutron stars meet AdS/CFT

Speaker: Niko Jokela

Jokela_CERN16.pdf

11:30 → 12:00 Critical magnetic fields in a superconductor coupled to a superfluid

Speaker: Andreas Schmitt (University of Southampton)

schmitt.pdf

14:00 → 15:00 Quark Matter in Neutron Stars

Speaker: Eduardo Fraga (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro)

fraga-QMinNS.pdf

15:00 → 15:30 Global properties of rotating neutron stars with QCD equations of state

Speaker: Tyler Gorda (University of Helsinki)

Gorda-Rotating_QCD_NSs.pdf

15:30 → 16:00 The Hearty Shapes of Quark Stars

Speaker: Juergen Schaffner-Bielich (Frankfurt University)

talk_CERN2016.pdf

16:30 → 17:30 Discussion

Friday, 9 December

10:00 → 11:00 Unveiling the compact star interior using dynamic properties

Speaker: Kai Schwenzer (Washington University)

Dynamical properties.pdf

11:00 → 11:30 Gravitational waves from a BSM perspective

Speaker: Alfredo Leonardo Urbano (CERN)

Urbano_NS.pdf

13:00 → 14:00 Outlook and Future

Speaker: James Lattimer

geneve.pdf

14:00 → 15:00 Discussion