https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202227407008
Thoughts about the utility of perturbative QCD in the cores of neutron stars – contribution to a roundtable discussion on neutron stars and QCD
Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway
* e-mail: aleksi.kurkela@uis.no
Published online: 22 December 2022
In this contribution, I discuss the utility that perturbative QCD offers in studying the matter in the cores of neutron stars. I discuss the reasons why perturbative QCD can constrain the equation of state at densities far below the densities where we can perform controlled calculations. I discuss how perturbative QCD can inform nuclear modelling of neutron stars and how it influences equation-of-state inference. And finally, I discuss the implications to the QCD phase diagram and argue that interesting features in the equation of state revealed by the QCD input may be used to argue for the existence of quark-matter cores in most massive neutron stars.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2022
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
