Probing the equation of state of neutron-rich matter with intermediate energy heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

Nuclear reactions induced by stable and/or radioactive neutron-rich nuclei provide the opportunity to pin down the equation of state of neutron-rich matter, especially the density ($\rho$) dependence of its isospin-dependent part, i.e., the nuclear symmetry energy $E_{\mathrm{sym}}$. A conservative constraint, $32(\rho /{\rho }_0{)}^{0.7}<E_{\mathrm{sym}}(\rho )<32(\rho /{\rho }_0{)}^{1.1}$, around the nuclear matter saturation density ${\rho }_0$ has recently been obtained from the isospin diffusion data in intermediate energy heavy-ion collisions. We review this exciting result and discuss its consequences and implications on nuclear effective interactions, radii and cooling mechanisms of neutron stars.

10 pages. Invited talks at (1) International Workshop on Nuclear Multifragmentation, Nov. 28-Dec. 1, 2005, Catania, Italy and (2) XXIX Symposium on Nuclear Physics, Jan. 3-6, 2006, Cocoyoc, Morelos, Mexico

References in corpus (1)

• Isospin Physics in Heavy-Ion Collisions at Intermediate Energies