Spectral Representations of Neutron-Star Equations of State

Understand

Methods are developed for constructing spectral representations of cold (barotropic) neutron-star equations of state.

• These representations are faithful in the sense that every physical equation of state has a representation of this type, and conversely every such representation satisfies the minimal thermodynamic stability criteria required of any physical equation of state.
• These spectral representations are also efficient, in the sense that only a few spectral coefficients are generally required to represent neutron-star equations of state quiet accurately.
• This accuracy and efficiency is illustrated by constructing spectral fits to a large collection of "realistic" neutron-star equations of state.