Constraining the dense matter equation-of-state with radio pulsars

Understand

Radio pulsars provide some of the most important constraints for our understanding of matter at supranuclear densities.

• So far, these constraints are mostly given by precision mass measurements of neutron stars (NS).
• By combining single measurements of the two most massive pulsars, J0348$+$0432 and J0740$+$6620, the resulting lower limit of 1.98 $M_\odot$ (99% confidence) of the maximum NS mass, excludes a large number of equations of state (EOSs).
• Further EOS constraints, complementary to other methods, are likely to come from the measurement of the moment of inertia (MOI) of binary pulsars in relativistic orbits.