Dense matter equation of state of a massive neutron star with anti-kaon condensation

Understand

Recent measurements of neutron star mass from several candidates (PSR J$1614-2230$, PSR J$0348+0432$, MSP J$0740+6620$) set the lower bound on the maximum possible mass for this class of compact objects $\sim 2$ M$_\odot$.

• Existence of stars with high mass brings the possibility of existence of exotic matter (hyperons, meson condensates) at the core region of the objects.
• In this work, we investigate the (anti)kaon ($K^-, \bar{K}^0$) condensation in $\beta-$equilibrated nuclear matter within the framework of covariant density functional theory.
• The functionals in the kaonic sector are constrained by the experimental studies on $K^-$ atomic, kaon-nucleon scattering data fits.