RUI: Probing QCD with Magnetic Fields in the Multimessenger Astronomy Era

有一些天体被称为中子星（NS），其密度非常大，其内部物质的一个微小的量将有大约1亿吨的质量。通常，这些恒星物体也被非常大的磁场所渗透。一种特殊的中子星，被称为磁星，其表面磁场可以比太阳强15个数量级，甚至在它们的内核中可能存在更强的磁场。核理论界的一个非常重要的目标是模拟和研究这些极端条件下物质的性质。最近对中子星星合并产生的引力波的观测，以及随后对伽马射线爆发和来自同一来源的其他电磁信号的探测，开启了一个新的、非常有前途的多信使天文学时代--这一时代正在推动对星星组成、元素形成和宇宙演化的知识和理解的边界。在这个多信使时代，包括脉冲星计时、伽马射线爆发和引力波探测在内的观测正在蓬勃发展，因此，识别能够解释这些观测的星星组成模型的压力正在加剧。该项目与这些努力保持一致，试图探索在极端条件下可能存在的物质相，如高物质密度和极强磁场。研究生和本科生将通过参与相关研究任务而受益。2015年，Advanced LIGO和Advanced Virgo天文台打开了通过引力波（GW）观测宇宙的新窗口。2017年8月17日，一种新型的GW天体物理源被探测到，它发出了NS信号。NS是独特的天然实验室，用于研究冷和高密度核物质的物理学，超出了地面实验的能力。NS的宏观特征，如质量，半径，潮汐变形，冷却，以及其他属性，可以从GW和电磁观测测量，是相关的，通过星星状态方程和它的热传输，内部物质相的星星。在这个项目中，PI将利用之前关于拓扑凝聚态系统和冷密夸克物质之间的联系的工作中获得的洞察力来探索一些变革性的想法，例如NS和暗物质之间的可能联系，以及继续扩展极端条件下夸克物质的理解。这个项目推进了“宇宙之窗：该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

There are astrophysical objects named neutron stars (NS) so dense that a single thimbleful of its inner matter would have a mass of about 100 million tons. Quite often, these stellar objects are also permeated by very large magnetic fields. A special class of neutron stars, known as magnetars, can have surface magnetic fields fifteen orders of magnitude stronger than the sun’s, and even much stronger fields in their inner cores are expected to exist. A very important goal of the nuclear theory community is to model and investigate the properties of matter under these extreme conditions. The recent observations of gravitational waves generated by neutron star mergers and the subsequent detection of gamma-ray bursts and other electromagnetic signals from the same source opened a new, very promising era of multimessenger astronomy – one that is pushing the boundaries of knowledge and understanding about the star’s composition, elements formation, and the evolution of our universe. In this multi-messenger era, observations including pulsar timing, gamma-ray bursts, and gravitational waves detection are booming, so the pressure to identify models of star composition that can explain those observations is intensifying. This project is aligned with these efforts, trying to explore the matter phases that can exist at extreme conditions like high matter density and extremely strong magnetic fields. Graduate and undergraduate students will benefit through their participation in related research tasks.In 2015, the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo observatories opened a new window to observe the universe through gravitational waves (GW). On August 17th, 2017, a new type of astrophysical source of GW was detected that signalized the sources as NS. NS are unique natural laboratories for investigating the physics of cold and highly dense nuclear matter beyond the capability of terrestrial experiments. Macroscopic characteristics of NS, such as masses, radii, tidal deformability, cooling, and other properties that can be measured from GW and electromagnetic observations, are related, through the star equation of state and its heat transport, to the inner matter phase of the star. In this project, the PIs will use the insight gained in previous work regarding the connection between topological condensed matter systems and cold-dense quark matter to explore some transformative ideas like a possible connection between NS and dark matter, as well as to continue expanding the understanding of quark-matter under extreme conditions.This project advances the objectives of "Windows on the Universe: the Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics", one of the 10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.