Bayesian inference of thermal effects in dense matter within the covariant density functional theory

Abstract

The high temperatures reached in a proto-neutron star or during the post-merger phase of a binary neutron star coalescence lead to non-negligible thermal effects on the equation of state (EOS) of dense nuclear matter. Here we study these effects within the covariant density functional theory employing the posteriors of a Bayesian inference, which encompasses a large sample of EOS models. Different densities and temperatures are considered. We find that for a number of quantities thermal effects are strongly correlated with the Dirac effective mass ($m^{\ast }$) of the nucleons and/or its logarithmic derivative as a function of density. These results can be explained within the low temperature approximation though they survive beyond this limit.

9 pages, 8 figures