EOS of Neutron Matter and Neutron Star Properties

Abstract

The Equation of State (EOS) of pure neutron matter at zero temperature is calculated up to five saturation densities within the Brueckner theory with the inclusion of three-body forces. Three different realistic and accurate two-body forces are considered to evaluate the G-matrix effective interaction for nuclear matter. These models are the chiral N 3 LO, the CD-Bonn and the Argonne V 18 , which give quite different EOS. Two types of three-body forces are included to the effective interaction, which might be important at densities several times that of nuclear matter density. Using a microscopic EOS for pure neutron matter, static properties of non-rotating neutron stars such as masses and radii are evaluated. The resulting maximum masses of neutron stars using different interactions near 2M ʘ are found to be in reasonable agreement with the measured ones PSR J1614−2230 (with M max = 1.97 ± 0.04 M ʘ ) and PSR J0348+0432 (with M max = 2.01 ± 0.04 M ʘ ).