Work

Symmetry-Energy Dependence of the Bulk Viscosity of Nuclear Matter

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: We clarify how the weak-interaction-driven bulk viscosity ζ and the bulk relaxation time τ_{Π} of neutrino-transparent npe matter depend on the nuclear symmetry energy. We show that, at saturation density, the equation-of-state dependence of these transport quantities is fully determined by the experimentally constrained nuclear symmetry energy S and its slope L. Variations of L can change the bulk viscosity by orders of magnitude, which can affect both the dissipative and the conservative tidal response of neutron stars. This suggests that both conservative and dissipative effects encoded in the gravitational-wave signatures of binary neutron star inspirals may help constrain nuclear symmetry-energy properties.

Source: Physical Review Letters

DOI: 10.1103/9nck-dm66

Authors: Yumu Yang, Mauricio Hippert, Enrico Speranza, Jorge Noronha

Institutions: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, European Organization for Nuclear Research

Language: English

Topic: Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green