Neutron Skins and Neutron Stars in the Multimessenger Era

The historical first detection of a binary neutron star merger by the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration [B. P. Abbott et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 161101 (2017)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.119.161101] is providing fundamental new insights into the astrophysical site for the r process and on the nature of dense matter. A set of realistic models of the equation of state (EOS) that yield an accurate description of the properties of finite nuclei, support neutron stars of two solar masses, and provide a Lorentz covariant extrapolation to dense matter are used to confront its predictions against tidal polarizabilities extracted from the gravitational-wave data. Given the sensitivity of the gravitational-wave signal to the underlying EOS, limits on the tidal polarizability inferred from the observation translate into constraints on the neutron-star radius. Based on these constraints, models that predict a stiff symmetry energy, and thus large stellar radii, can be ruled out. Indeed, we deduce an upper limit on the radius of a 1.4M⊙ neutron star of R∗1.4<13.76 km. Given the sensitivity of the neutron-skin thickness of Pb208 to the symmetry energy, albeit at a lower density, we infer a corresponding upper limit of about Rskin208≲0.25 fm. However, if the upcoming PREX-II experiment measures a significantly thicker skin, this may be evidence of a softening of the symmetry energy at high densities - likely indicative of a phase transition in the interior of neutron stars.