2021/05/31 by Jeffrey M. Berryman, Susan Gardner
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Baryon #Baryon number #Compact star #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Neutron #Neutron star #Nuclear physics #Parameter space #Particle physics #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quark #RADIUS #astro-ph.HE #hep-ph #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevc.104.045802
published as Phys. Rev. C 104, 045802 (2021) · 9 pages, 3 figures; updated to match journal version
openalex publication_date 2021/10/08 · arxiv created 2021/11/04 · arxiv updated 2021/11/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
The discovery of nondiffuse sources of gravitational waves through compact-object mergers opens new prospects for the study of physics beyond the Standard Model. In this paper, we study the effects of a new force between quarks, suggested by the gauging of baryon number, on pure neutron matter at supranuclear densities. This leads to a stiffening of the equation of state, allowing neutron stars to be both larger and heavier and possibly accommodating the light progenitor of GW190814 as a neutron star. The role of conventional three-body forces in neutron star structure is still poorly understood, though they can act in a similar way, implying that the mass and radius do not in themselves resolve whether new physics is coming into play. However, a crucial feature of the scenario we propose is that the regions of the new physics parameter space that induce observable changes to neutron star structure are testable at low-energy accelerator facilities. This testability distinguishes our scenario from other classes of new phenomena in dense matter.