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Bao-An Li

Publications and source records attributed to Bao-An Li.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Unraveling Trace Anomaly of Supradense Matter via Neutron Star Compactness Scaling

The trace anomaly $Δ\equiv 1/3-P/\varepsilon=1/3-ϕ$ quantifies the possibly broken conformal symmetry in supradense matter under pressure $P$ at energy density $\varepsilon$. Perturbative QCD (pQCD) predicts a vanishing $Δ$ at extremely high energy or baryon densities when the conformal symmetry is realized but its behavior at intermediate densities reachable in neutron stars (NSs) are still very uncertain. The extraction of $Δ$ from NS observations strongly depends on the employed model for nuclear Equation of State (EOS). Using the IPAD-TOV method based on an Intrinsic and Perturbatively Analysis of the Dimensionless (IPAD) Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equations that are further verified numerically by using $10^5$ EOSs generated randomly with a meta-model in a very broad EOS parameter space constrained by terrestrial nuclear experiments and astrophysical observations, here we first show that the compactness $ξ\equiv GM_{\rm{NS}}/Rc^2\equiv M_{\rm{NS}}/R$ of a NS with mass $M_{\rm{NS}}$ and radius $R$ scales very accurately with $\overlineΠ_{\rm{c}}\equivΠ_{\rm{c}}\cdot(1+18\x/25)\equiv\x/(1+3\x^2+4\x)\cdot(1+18\rm{X}/25)$ where $\x\equivϕ_{\rm{c}}= P_{\rm{c}}/\varepsilon_{\rm{c}}$ is the ratio of pressure over energy density at NS centers. The scaling of NS compactness thus enables one to readily read off the central trace anomaly $Δ_{\rm{c}}=1/3-\x$ directly from the observational data of either the mass-radius or red-shift measurements. We then demonstrate indeed that the available NS data themselves from recent X-ray and gravitational wave observations can determine model-insensitively the trace anomaly as a function of energy density in NS cores, providing a stringent test of existing NS models and a clear guidance in a new direction for further understanding the nature and EOS of supradense matter.

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Evolutions of in-medium baryon-baryon scattering cross sections and stiffness of dense nuclear matter from Bayesian analyses of FOPI proton flow excitation functions

Within a Bayesian statistical framework using a Gaussian Process (GP) emulator for an isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU) transport model simulator of heavy-ion reactions with momentum-independent Skyrme interactions, we infer from the proton directed and elliptical flow in mid-central Au+Au reactions at beam energies from 150 to 1200 MeV/nucleon taken by the FOPI Collaboration the posterior Probability Distribution Functions (PDFs) of the in-medium baryon-baryon scattering cross section (BBSCS) modification factor $X$ (with respect to their free-space values) and the stiffness parameter $K$ of dense nuclear matter. We find that the most probable value of $X$ evolves from around 0.7 to 1.0 as the beam energy $E_{beam}/A$ increases. On the other hand, the posterior PDF($K$) may have dual peaks having roughly the same height or extended shoulders at high $K$ values. More quantitatively, the posterior PDF($K$) changes from having a major peak around 220 MeV characterizing a soft EOS in the reaction at $E_{beam}/A$=150 MeV to one that peaks around 320 MeV indicating a stiff EOS in the reactions at $E_{beam}/A$ higher than about 600 MeV. The transition from soft to stiff happens in mid-central Au+Au reactions at beam energies around 250 MeV/nucleon in which $K=220$ MeV and $K=320$ MeV are approximately equally probable. Altogether, the FOPI proton flow excitation function data indicate a gradual hardening of hot and dense nuclear matter as its density and temperature increase in reactions with higher beam energies.

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Imprints of high-density nuclear symmetry energy on the crustal fraction of neutron star moment of inertia

The density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy $E_{\rm sym}(ρ)$ remains the most uncertain aspect of the equation of state (EOS) of supradense neutron-rich nucleonic matter. Implications of observational crustal fraction of neutron star (NS) moment of inertia $ΔI/I$ on the $E_{\rm sym}(ρ)$ are examined in the present work, utilizing an isospin-dependent parameterization of NS EOS. We find that symmetry energy parameters significantly influence the $ΔI/I$, while the EOS of symmetric nuclear matter has a negligible effect. An increase in the slope $L$ and skewness $J_{\rm sym}$ of symmetry energy results in a larger $ΔI/I$, whereas an increase in the curvature $K_{\rm sym}$ leads to a reduction in $ΔI/I$. Additionally, we discuss the imprints of observational $ΔI/I$ on the symmetry energy for NSs with masses of 1.0 M$_\odot$ or 1.4 M$_\odot$. Our results indicate that the $ΔI/I$ has the potential to set a lower limit of symmetry energy at densities exceeding $3ρ_0$, particularly when $L$ is constrained to values less than $60$ MeV, thereby enhancing our understanding of supradense NS matter.

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Novel Scalings of Neutron Star Properties from Analyzing Dimensionless Tolman--Oppenheimer--Volkoff Equations

The TOV equations govern the radial evolution of pressure and energy density in static neutron stars (NSs) in hydrodynamical equilibrium. Using the reduced pressure and energy density with respect to the NS central energy density, the original TOV equations can be recast into dimensionless forms. While the traditionally used integral approach for solving the original TOV equations require an input nuclear Equation of State (EOS), the dimensionless TOV equations can be anatomized by using the reduced pressure and energy density as polynomials of the reduced radial coordinate without using any input nuclear EOS. Interesting and novel perspectives about NS core EOS can be extracted directly from NS observables using this new approach based on Intrinsic and Perturbative Analyses of the Dimensionless (IPAD) TOV equations (IPAD-TOV). In this review, we first discuss the length and energy density scales of NSs as well as the dimensionless TOV equations for scaled variables and their perturbative solutions near NS cores. We then review several new insights into NS physics gained from using the IPAD-TOV. We also demonstrate that the strong-field gravity plays a fundamental role in extruding a peak in the density/radius profile of the speed of sound squared (SSS) in massive NS cores independent of the nuclear EOS. Finally, some future perspectives of NS research using the IPAD-TOV are outlined.

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Impact of the nuclear equation of state on the formation of twin stars

Twin stars-two stable neutron stars (NSs) with the same mass but different radii have long been proposed to appear as a consequence of a possible first-order phase transition in NS matter. Within a meta-model for the EOS of hybrid stars, we revisit the viability of twin stars and its dependence on numerous parameters characterizing the EOS of nuclear matter, quark matter, and the phase transition between them. While essentially no experimental constraint exists for the last two, parameters characterizing the EOS of neutron-rich nucleonic matter have been constrained within various ranges by terrestrial experiments and astrophysical observations. Within these ranges, the impact of nuclear EOS and crust-core transition density on the formation of twin stars is studied. It is found that the symmetry energy of neutron-rich nucleonic matter notably influences the formation of twin stars, particularly through its slope $L$ and curvature $K_{\rm sym}$. Conversely, varying the EOS of symmetric nuclear matter within their currently known uncertainty ranges shows minimal influence on the formation of twin stars.

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New Insights into Supradense Matter from Dissecting Scaled Stellar Structure Equations

The strong-field gravity in General Relativity (GR) realized in neutron stars (NSs) renders the Equation of State (EOS) $P(\varepsilon)$ of supradense neutron star (NS) matter to be essentially nonlinear and refines the upper bound for $ϕ\equiv P/\varepsilon$ to be much smaller than the Special Relativity (SR) requirement with linear EOSs, where $P$ and $\varepsilon$ are respectively the pressure and energy density of the system considered. Specifically, a tight bound $ϕ\lesssim0.374$ is obtained by anatomizing perturbatively the intrinsic structures of the scaled Tolman--Oppenheimer--Volkoff (TOV) equations without using any input nuclear EOS. New insights gained from this novel analysis provide EOS-model independent constraints on properties (e.g., density profiles of the sound speed squared $s^2=\d P/\d\varepsilon$ and trace anomaly $Δ=1/3-ϕ$) of cold supradense matter in NS cores. Using the gravity-matter duality in theories describing NSs, we investigate the impact of gravity on supradense matter EOS in NSs. In particular, we show that the NS mass $M_{\rm{NS}}$, radius $R$ and its compactness $ξ\equiv M_{\rm{NS}}/R$ scale with certain combinations of its central pressure and energy density (encapsulating its central EOS). Thus, observational data on these properties of NSs can straightforwardly constrain NS central EOSs without relying on any specific nuclear EOS-model.

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Bayesian Inference of Fine-Features of Nuclear Equation of State from Future Neutron Star Radius Measurements to 0.1km Accuracy

To more precisely constrain the Equation of State (EOS) of supradense neutron-rich nuclear matter, future high-precision X-ray and gravitational wave observatories are proposed to measure the radii of neutron stars (NSs) with an accuracy better than about 0.1 km. However, it remains unclear what particular aspects (other than the stiffness generally spoken of in the literature) of the EOS and to what precision they will be better constrained. In this work, within a Bayesian framework using a meta-model EOS for NSs, we infer the posterior probability distribution functions (PDFs) of incompressibility $K_{0}$ and skewness $J_{0}$ of symmetric nuclear matter (SNM) as well as the slope $L$, curvature $K_{\rm{sym}}$, and skewness $J_{\rm{sym}}$ characterizing the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy $E_{\rm{sym}}(ρ)$, respectively, from mean values of NS radii consistent with existing observations and an expected accuracy $ΔR$ ranging from about 1.0 km to 0.1 km. We found that (1) the $ΔR$ has little effect on inferring the stiffness of SNM at suprasaturation densities, (2) smaller $ΔR$ reveals more accurately not only the PDFs but also pairwise correlations among parameters characterizing high-density $E_{\rm{sym}}(ρ)$, (3) a double-peak feature of the PDF($K_{\rm{sym}}$) corresponding to the strong $K_{\rm{sym}}-J_{\rm{sym}}$ and $K_{\rm{sym}}-L$ anti-correlations is revealed when $ΔR$ is less than about 0.2 km, and the locations of the two peaks are sensitive to the maximum value of $J_{\rm{sym}}$ reflecting the stiffness of $E_{\rm{sym}}(ρ)$ above about 3 times the saturation density $ρ_0$ of SNM, (4) the high-precision radius measurement for canonical NSs is more useful than that for massive ones for constraining the EOS of nucleonic matter around $(2-3)ρ_0$.

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Neural Network Emulation of Flow in Heavy-Ion Collisions at Intermediate Energies

Applications of new techniques in machine learning are speeding up progress in research in various fields. In this work, we construct and evaluate a deep neural network (DNN) to be used within a Bayesian statistical framework as a faster and more reliable alternative to the Gaussian Process (GP) emulator of an isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU) transport model simulator of heavy-ion reactions at intermediate beam energies. We found strong evidence of DNN being able to emulate the IBUU simulator's prediction on the strengths of protons' directed and elliptical flow very efficiently even with small training datasets and with accuracy about ten times higher than the GP. Limitations of our present work and future improvements are also discussed.

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Impact of The Newly Revised Gravitational Redshift of X-ray Burster GS 1826-24 on The Equation of State of Supradense Neutron-Rich Matter

Thanks to the recent advancement in producing rare isotopes and measuring their masses with unprecedented precision, the updated nuclear masses around the waiting-point nucleus $^{64}$Ge in the rapid-proton capture process have led to a significant revision of the surface gravitational redshift of the neutron star (NS) in GS 1826-24 by re-fitting its X-ray burst light curve ({\it X. Zhou et al., Nature Physics {\bf 19}, 1091 (2023)}) using Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA). The resulting NS compactness $ξ$ is between 0.244 and 0.342 at 95\% confidence level and its upper boundary is significantly smaller than the maximum $ξ$ previously known. Incorporating this new data within a comprehensive Bayesian statistical framework, we investigate its impact on the Equation of State (EOS) of supradense neutron-rich matter and the required spin frequency for GW190814's minor $m_2$ with mass $2.59\pm 0.05$M$_{\odot}$ to be a rotationally stable pulsar. We found that the EOS of high-density symmetric nuclear matter (SNM) has to be softened significantly while the symmetry energy at supersaturation densities stiffened compared to our prior knowledge from earlier analyses using data from both astrophysical observations and terrestrial nuclear experiments. In particular, the skewness $J_0$ characterizing the stiffness of high-density SNM decreases significantly, while the slope $L$, curvature $K_{\rm{sym}}$, and skewness $J_{\rm{sym}}$ of nuclear symmetry energy all increase appreciably compared to their fiducial values. We also found that the most probable spin rate for the $m_2$ to be a stable pulsar is very close to its mass-shedding limit once the revised redshift data from GS 1826-24 is considered, making the $m_2$ unlikely the most massive NS observed so far.

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Strong Gravity Extruding Peaks in Speed of Sound Profiles of Massive Neutron Stars

The speed of sound squared (SSS) $s^2$ in massive neutron stars (NSs) characterizes not only the stiffness of supradense neutron-rich matter within but also equivalently properties of the curved geometry due to the strong-field gravity and matter-geometry coupling. A peaked density or radius profile of $s^2$ has been predicted for massive NSs using various NS Equation of State (EOS) models. However, the nature, cause, location and size of the peak in $s^2$ profiles are still very EOS model dependent. In this work, we investigate systematically $s^2$ profiles in massive NSs in a new approach that is independent of the nuclear EOS model and without any presumption about the NS structure and/or composition. In terms of the small quantities (reduced radius, the energy density and pressure scaled by their central values), we perform double-element perturbative expansions in solving perturbatively the scaled Tolman--Oppenheimer--Volkoff (TOV) equations and analyzing $s^2$ profiles from the Newtonian limit to the general relativistic (GR) case. The GR term in the TOV equations plays a twofold role: it compresses NS matter and modifies the pressure/energy density ratio from small values in Newtonian stars showing no $s^2$ peak to large ones for massive NSs possessing a peak in their $s^2$ profiles, and eventually takes away the peak in extremely compact/massive NSs approaching the causality limit. {In particular, the peaked behavior in $s^2$ is expected to emerge near the center of massive NSs like PSR J0740+6620, while a sharp phase transition is unlikely to occur there.} These features revealed from our analyses are universal as they are intrinsic properties of the GR stellar structure equations independent of the still very uncertain EOS of supradense neutron-rich matter in NSs.

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Comparing pion production in transport simulations of heavy-ion collisions at $270A$ MeV under controlled conditions

Within the TMEP, we present a detailed study of the performance of different transport models in Sn+Sn collisions at $270A$ MeV, and put particular emphasis on the production of pions and $Δ$ resonances, which have been used as probes of the nuclear symmetry energy. We prescribe a common and rather simple physics model, and follow in detail the results of 4 BUU models and 6 QMD models. The nucleonic evolution of the collision and the nucleonic observables in these codes do not completely converge, but the differences among the codes can be understood as being due to several reasons: the basic differences between BUU and QMD models in the representation of the phase-space distributions, computational differences in the mean-field evaluation, and differences in the adopted strategies for the Pauli blocking in the collision integrals. For pionic observables, we find that a higher maximum density leads to an enhanced pion yield and a reduced $π^-/π^+$ yield ratio, while a more effective Pauli blocking generally leads to a slightly suppressed pion yield and an enhanced $π^-/π^+$ yield ratio. We specifically investigate the effect of the Coulomb force, and find that it increases the total $π^-/π^+$ yield ratio but reduces the ratio at high pion energies, although differences in its implementations do not have a dominating role in the differences among the codes. Taking into account only the results of codes that strictly follow the homework specifications, we find a convergence of the codes in the final charged pion yield ratio to a $1σ$ deviation of about $5\%$. However, the uncertainty is expected to be reduced to about $1.6\%$ if the same or similar strategies and ingredients, i.e., an improved Pauli blocking and calculation of the non-linear term in the mean-field potential, are similarly used in all codes.

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Dense Nuclear Matter Equation of State from Heavy-Ion Collisions

The nuclear equation of state (EOS) is at the center of numerous theoretical and experimental efforts in nuclear physics. With advances in microscopic theories for nuclear interactions, the availability of experiments probing nuclear matter under conditions not reached before, endeavors to develop sophisticated and reliable transport simulations to interpret these experiments, and the advent of multi-messenger astronomy, the next decade will bring new opportunities for determining the nuclear matter EOS, elucidating its dependence on density, temperature, and isospin asymmetry. Among controlled terrestrial experiments, collisions of heavy nuclei at intermediate beam energies (from a few tens of MeV/nucleon to about 25 GeV/nucleon in the fixed-target frame) probe the widest ranges of baryon density and temperature, enabling studies of nuclear matter from a few tenths to about 5 times the nuclear saturation density and for temperatures from a few to well above a hundred MeV, respectively. Collisions of neutron-rich isotopes further bring the opportunity to probe effects due to the isospin asymmetry. However, capitalizing on the enormous scientific effort aimed at uncovering the dense nuclear matter EOS, both at RHIC and at FRIB as well as at other international facilities, depends on the continued development of state-of-the-art hadronic transport simulations. This white paper highlights the essential role that heavy-ion collision experiments and hadronic transport simulations play in understanding strong interactions in dense nuclear matter, with an emphasis on how these efforts can be used together with microscopic approaches and neutron star studies to uncover the nuclear EOS.

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Empirical radius formulas for canonical neutron stars from bidirectionally selecting EOS features in extended Bayesian analyses of observational data

Given the significant advancement in Bayesian inference of nuclear Equation of State (EOS) from gravitational wave and X-ray observations of neutron stars (NSs), especially since GW170817, is there a data-driven and robust empirical formula for the radius $R_{1.4}$ of canonical NSs in terms of the characteristic EOS parameters (features)? What is the single most important but currently poorly known EOS parameter for determining the $R_{1.4}$? We study these questions by extending the traditional Bayesian analysis which normally ends at presenting the marginalized posterior probability distribution functions (PDFs) of individual EOS parameters and their correlations (or sometimes only the Pearson correlation coefficients which are only reliably useful when the variables are linearly correlated while they are actually often not). Using three regression model-building methodologies: bidirectional step-wise feature selection, Least Absolute Shrinkage Selection Operator (LASSO) regression, and neural network regression on a large set of posterior EOSs and the corresponding $R_{1.4}$ values inferred from earlier comprehensive Bayesian analyses of NS observational data, we systematically and rigorously develop the most probable $R_{1.4}$ formulas with varying statistical accuracy and technical complexity. The most important EOS parameters for determining $R_{1.4}$ are found consistently in each of the feature/model selection processes to be (in order of decreasing importance): curvature $K_{sym}$, slope $L$, skewness $J_{sym}$ of nuclear symmetry energy, skewness $J_{0}$, incompressibility $K_{0}$ of symmetric nuclear matter, and the magnitude $E_{sym} (ρ_0)$ of symmetry energy at the saturation density $ρ_0$ of nuclear matter.

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Central Speed of Sound, Trace Anomaly and Observables of Neutron Stars from Perturbative Analyses of Scaled TOV Equations

The central speed of sound (SS) measures the stiffness of the Equation of State (EOS) of superdense neutron star (NS) matter. Its variations with density and radial coordinate in NSs in conventional analyses often suffer from uncertainties of the specific nuclear EOSs used. Using the central SS and NS mass/radius scaling obtained from solving perturbatively the scaled Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equations, we study the variations of SS, trace anomaly and several closely related properties of NSs in an EOS-model independent manner. We find that the SS increases with the reduced central pressure $\widehat{P}_{\rm{c}}\equiv P_{\rm{c}}/\varepsilon_{\rm{c}}$ (scaled by the central energy density $\varepsilon_{\rm{c}}$), and the conformal bound for SS tends to break down for NSs with masses higher than about 1.9$M_{\odot}$. The ratio $P/\varepsilon$ is upper bounded as $P/\varepsilon\lesssim0.374$ around the centers of stable NSs. We demonstrate that it is an intrinsic property of strong-field gravity and is more relevant than the perturbative QCD bound on it. While a sharp phase transition at high densities characterized by a sudden vanishing of SS in cores of massive NSs are basically excluded, the probability for a continuous crossover signaled by a peaked radial profile of SS is found to be enhanced as $\widehat{P}_{\rm{c}}$ decreases, implying it likely happens near the centers of massive NSs. Moreover, a new and more stringent causality boundary as $R_{\max}/\rm{km}\gtrsim 4.73M_{\rm{NS}}^{\max}/M_{\odot}+1.14$ for NS M-R curve is found to be excellently consistent with observational data on NS masses and radii. Furthermore, new constraints on the ultimate energy density and pressure allowed in NSs before collapsing into black holes are obtained and compared with earlier predictions in the literature.

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Properties of First-Order Hadron-Quark Phase Transition from Inverting Neutron Star Observables

By inverting the observational data of several neutron star observables in the three dimensional parameter space of the constant speed of sound (CSS) model while fixing all hadronic Equation of State parameters at their currently known most probable values, we constrain the three parameters of the CSS model and their correlations. Using two lower radius limits of $R_{2.01}=11.41$ km and $R_{2.01}=12.2$ km for PSR J0740+6620 obtained from two independent analyses using different approaches by the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) Collaboration, the speed of sound squared $c_{\rm QM}^2$ in quark matter is found to have a lower limit of $0.35$ and $0.43$ in unit of $c^2$, respectively, above its conformal limit of $c_{\rm QM}^2<1/3$. An approximately linear correlation between the first-order hadron-quark transition density $ρ_t$ and its strength $Δ\varepsilon$ is found. Moreover, the presence of twin star is deemed improbable by the present work.

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Bayesian inference of in-medium baryon-baryon scattering cross sections from HADES proton flow data

Within a Bayesian statistical framework using a Gaussian Process emulator for an isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU) transport model simulator of heavy-ion reactions at intermediate energies, we infer from the HADES proton flow data the posterior probability distribution functions of in-medium baryon-baryon scattering cross section modification factor X with respect to free-space and the corresponding incompressibility K of nuclear matter as well as their correlation function. The mean value of X is found to be $X=1.32^{+0.28}_{-0.40}$ at 68\% confidence level assuming the nuclear incompressibility K will not exceed 400 MeV, providing circumstantial evidence for enhanced baryon-baryon scattering cross sections in hot and dense nuclear matter.

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Interplay of effects of neutron skins in coordinate space and proton skins in momentum space on hard photons emission in heavy-ion collisions around Fermi Energy

Within an isospin- and momentum-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU) transport model, we investigate the hard photons emission from neutron-proton bremsstrahlung in reaction system of $^{208}Pb+^{208}Pb$ around Fermi energy. Effects of neutron skins in coordinate ($r$) space and proton skins in momentum ($k$) space on the time evolution, the angular distribution, and the transverse momentum spectra of hard photons with different energies are studied. It is shown that the emission of direct hard photons is sensitive to the neutron skin, which has larger effects for more energetic hard photons. Meanwhile, we find that the proton skins have an important influence on the emission of direct hard photons, and its effect is actually even larger than that of neutron skins. It needs to take the effect of proton skins into account when we determine the size of neutron skins by comparing transport mode predictions of hard photons with the corresponding experiment measurements.

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Core States of Neutron Stars from Anatomizing their Scaled Structure Equations

Given an Equation of State (EOS) for neutron star (NS) matter, there is a unique mass-radius sequence characterized by a maximum mass $M_{\rm{NS}}^{\max}$ at radius $R_{\max}$. We first show analytically that the $M_{\rm{NS}}^{\max}$ and $R_{\max}$ scale linearly with two different combinations of NS central pressure $P_{\rm{c}}$ and energy density $\varepsilon_{\rm{c}}$ by dissecting perturbatively the dimensionless Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equations governing NS internal variables. The scaling relations are then verified via 87 widely used and rather diverse phenomenological as well as 17 microscopic NS EOSs with/without considering hadron-quark phase transitions and hyperons by solving numerically the original TOV equations. The EOS of densest NS matter allowed before it collapses into a black hole (BH) is then obtained. Using the universal $M_{\rm{NS}}^{\max}$ and $R_{\max}$ scalings and NICER (Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer) and XMM-Newton mass-radius observational data for PSR J0740+6620, a very narrow constraining band on the NS central EOS is extracted directly from the data for the first time without using any specific input EOS model.

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