Neutron stars

Neutron stars are laboratories for dense matter and gravitational physics. Observations of neutron stars from sources such as radio pulsars, low-mass X-ray binaries, X-ray bursts and thermally-emitting neutron stars are setting bounds to neutron star masses, radii, rotation rates, temperatures and ages. Mass measurements constrain the equation of state at the highest densities and set firm bounds to the highest possible density of cold matter. Radii constrain the equation of state in the vicinity of the nuclear saturation density and yield information about the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy. Laboratory measurements and theoretical studies of pure neutron matter are in remarkable agreement with observational bounds.