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    Equation of state for neutron stars with speed of sound constraints via Bayesian inference

    Xieyuan Dong and Hong Shen

    Jinniu Hu1,*

    Ying Zhang†

    • School of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China and Shenzhen Research Institute of Nankai University, Shenzhen 518083, China

    • *Contact author: hujinniu@nankai.edu.cn
    • †Contact author: yzhangjcnp@tju.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. D 112, 063043 – Published 23 September, 2025

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/hlgb-47pj

    Abstract

    The parametrized equation of state (EOS) of neutron stars is investigated by the Bayesian inference method with various constraints from both nuclear physics and modern astronomical observations, where the energy per particle is expanded as a polynomial function of the density. The expansion coefficients correspond to the properties of symmetric nuclear matter and the density dependence of the symmetry energy. The empirical values of the symmetry energy at subsaturation density and the density of crust-core phase transition are considered to limit the low-density behavior of EOS, i.e., Lsym, while the speed of sound of neutron star matter and mass-radius observations of millisecond pulsars PSR J0030+0451 and PSR J0740+6620 are adopted to eliminate the high-order expansion coefficients, such as Qsat and Qsym. Finally, our analysis reveals that the skewness coefficient Qsat of the energy per nucleon in symmetric nuclear matter exhibits the strongest correlation with the speed of sound, constrained to Qsat=−69.50−31.93+16.52  MeV, whose uncertainties are much smaller than those of the experiments of heavy-ion collisions. The symmetry energy parameters are determined as follows: slope Lsym=34.32−11.85+13.66  MeV, curvature Ksym=−58.45−89.46+88.47  MeV, and skewness Qsym=302.28−231.89+251.62  MeV. Additionally, the radii of canonical (1.4M⊙) and massive (2.0M⊙) neutron stars are predicted as R1.4=11.85−0.15+0.06  km and R2.0=11.42−0.35+0.23  km, respectively, with a maximum mass of Mmax=2.12−0.05+0.11M⊙. The tidal deformability is Λ1.4=303.57−45.22+47.95 at 1.4M⊙, which is consistent with the analysis of the GW170817 event. The trace anomaly Δ in the high density region increases when the causality of the speed of sound is taken.

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