- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review Research

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Neutron matter from local chiral effective field theory interactions at large cutoffs

Ingo Tews1,*, Rahul Somasundaram1,2, Diego Lonardoni1,†, Hannah Göttling3,4, Rodric Seutin3,4,5, Joseph Carlson1, Stefano Gandolfi1, Kai Hebeler3,4,5, and Achim Schwenk3,4,5

  • *Contact author: itews@lanl.gov
  • †Present address: XCP-2, Eulerian Codes Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
PDF

Phys. Rev. Research 7, 033024 – Published 7 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/r314-6r62

Abstract

Neutron matter is an important many-body system that provides valuable constraints for the equation of state (EOS) of neutron stars. Neutron-matter calculations employing chiral effective field theory (EFT) interactions have been extensively used for this purpose. Among the various many-body methods, quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods stand out due to their nonperturbative nature and the achievable precision. However, QMC methods require local interactions as input, which leads to the appearance of stronger regulator artifacts compared to nonlocal interactions. To circumvent this, we employ large-cutoff interactions derived within chiral EFT (400MeV≤Λc≤700MeV) for studies of pure neutron matter. These interactions have been adjusted to nucleon-nucleon scattering phase shifts, the triton binding energy, as well as the triton β-decay half-life. We find that regulator artifacts significantly decrease with increasing cutoff, leading to a significant reduction of uncertainties in the neutron-matter EOS. We discuss implications for the symmetry energy and demonstrate how our new calculations lead to a reduction in the theoretical uncertainty of predicted neutron-star radii by up to 30% for low-mass stars.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (61)

  1. J. Antoniadis, P. C. C. Freire, N. Wex, T. M. Tauris, R. S. Lynch, M. H. van Kerkwijk, M. Kramer, C. Bassa, V. S. Dhillon, T. Driebe et al., A massive pulsar in a compact relativistic binary, Science 340, 1233232 (2013).
  2. H. T. Cromartie, E. Fonseca, S. M. Ransom, P. B. Demorest, Z. Arzoumanian, H. Blumer, P. R. Brook, M. E. DeCesar, T. Dolch, J. A. Ellis et al., Relativistic Shapiro delay measurements of an extremely massive millisecond pulsar, Nat. Astron. 4, 72 (2019).
  3. P. Demorest, T. Pennucci, S. Ransom, M. Roberts, and J. Hessels, Shapiro delay measurement of a two solar mass neutron star, Nature (London) 467, 1081 (2010).
  4. E. Fonseca, H. T. Cromartie, T. T. Pennucci, P. S. Ray, A. Yu. Kirichenko, S. M. Ransom, P. B. Demorest, I. H. Stairs, Z. Arzoumanian, L. Guillemot et al., Refined mass and geometric measurements of the high-mass PSR J0740+6620, Astrophys. J. Lett. 915, L12 (2021).
  5. B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adams, T. Adams, P. Addesso, R. X. Adhikari, V. B. Adya et al., Gravitational waves and gamma-rays from a binary neutron star merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A, Astrophys. J. Lett. 848, L13 (2017).
  6. B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adams, T. Adams, P. Addesso, R. X. Adhikari, V. B. Adya et al., GW170817: Observation of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star inspiral, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 161101 (2017).
  7. B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adams, T. Adams, P. Addesso, R. X. Adhikari, V. B. Adya et al., Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger, Astrophys. J. Lett. 848, L12 (2017).
  8. D. Choudhury, T. Salmi, S. Vinciguerra, T. E. Riley, Y. Kini, A. L. Watts, B. Dorsman, S. Bogdanov, S. Guillot, P. S. Ray et al., A NICER View of the Nearest and Brightest Millisecond Pulsar: PSR J0437-4715, Astrophys. J. Lett. 971, L20 (2024).
  9. M. C. Miller, F. K. Lamb, A. J. Dittmann, S. Bogdanov, Z. Arzoumanian, K. C. Gendreau, S. Guillot, A. K. Harding, W. C. G. Ho, J. M. Lattimer et al., PSR J0030+0451 mass and radius from NICER data and implications for the properties of neutron star matter, Astrophys. J. Lett. 887, L24 (2019).
  10. M. C. Miller, F. K. Lamb, A. J. Dittmann, S. Bogdanov, Z. Arzoumanian, K. C. Gendreau, S. Guillot, W. C. G. Ho, J. M. Lattimer, M. Loewenstein et al., The Radius of PSR J0740+6620 from NICER and XMM-Newton Data, Astrophys. J. Lett. 918, L28 (2021).
  11. T. E. Riley, A. L. Watts, S. Bogdanov, P. S. Ray, R. M. Ludlam, S. Guillot, Z. Arzoumanian, C. L. Baker, A. V. Bilous, D. Chakrabarty et al., A NICER view of PSR J0030+0451: Millisecond pulsar parameter estimation, Astrophys. J. Lett. 887, L21 (2019).
  12. T. E. Riley, A. L. Watts, P. S. Ray, S. Bogdanov, S. Guillot, S. M. Morsink, A. V. Bilous, Z. Arzoumanian, D. Choudhury, J. S. Deneva et al., A NICER view of the massive pulsar PSR J0740+6620 informed by radio timing and XMM-Newton spectroscopy, Astrophys. J. Lett. 918, L27 (2021).
  13. E. Annala, T. Gorda, E. Katerini, A. Kurkela, J. Nättilä, V. Paschalidis, and A. Vuorinen, Multimessenger constraints for ultradense matter, Phys. Rev. X 12, 011058 (2022).
  14. E. Annala, T. Gorda, A. Kurkela, and A. Vuorinen, Gravitational-wave constraints on the neutron-star-matter equation of state, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 172703 (2018).
  15. C. D. Capano, I. Tews, S. M. Brown, B. Margalit, S. De, S. Kumar, D. A. Brown, B. Krishnan, and S. Reddy, Stringent constraints on neutron-star radii from multimessenger observations and nuclear theory, Nat. Astron. 4, 625 (2019).
  16. T. Dietrich, M. W. Coughlin, P. T. H. Pang, M. Bulla, J. Heinzel, L. Issa, I. Tews, and S. Antier, New constraints on the supranuclear equation of state and the hubble constant from nuclear physics—Multi-messenger astronomy, Science 370, 1450 (2020).
  17. R. Essick, I. Tews, P. Landry, S. Reddy, and D. E. Holz, Direct astrophysical tests of chiral effective field theory at supranuclear densities, Phys. Rev. C 102, 055803 (2020).
  18. R. Essick, I. Tews, P. Landry, and A. Schwenk, Astrophysical constraints on the symmetry energy and the neutron skin of Pb208 with minimal modeling assumptions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 192701 (2021).
  19. H. Koehn, H. Rose, P. T. H. Pang, R. Somasundaram, B. T. Reed, I. Tews, A. Abac, O. Komoltsev, N. Kunert, A. Kurkela et al., From existing and new nuclear and astrophysical constraints to stringent limits on the equation of state of neutron-rich dense matter, Phys. Rev. X 15, 021014 (2025).
  20. G. Raaijmakers, S. K. Greif, K. Hebeler, T. Hinderer, S. Nissanke, A. Schwenk, T. E. Riley, A. L. Watts, J. M. Lattimer, and W. C. G. Ho, Constraints on the dense matter equation of state and neutron star properties from NICER's mass-radius estimate of PSR J0740+6620 and multimessenger observations, Astrophys. J. Lett. 918, L29 (2021).
  21. N. Rutherford, M. Mendes, I. Svensson, A. Schwenk, A. L. Watts, K. Hebeler, J. Keller, C. Prescod-Weinstein, D. Choudhury, G. Raaijmakers et al., Constraining the dense matter equation of state with new NICER mass-radius measurements and new chiral effective field theory inputs, Astrophys. J. Lett. 971, L19 (2024).
  22. E. Epelbaum, H.-W. Hammer, and U.-G. Meißner, Modern theory of nuclear forces, Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1773 (2009).
  23. R. Machleidt and D. R. Entem, Chiral effective field theory and nuclear forces, Phys. Rep. 503, 1 (2011).
  24. C. Drischler, R. J. Furnstahl, J. A. Melendez, and D. R. Phillips, How well do we know the neutron-matter equation of state at the densities inside neutron stars? A Bayesian approach with correlated uncertainties, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 202702 (2020).
  25. E. Epelbaum, H. Krebs, and U. G. Meißner, Improved chiral nucleon-nucleon potential up to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order, Eur. Phys. J. A 51, 53 (2015).
  26. J. Carlson, S. Gandolfi, F. Pederiva, S. C. Pieper, R. Schiavilla, K. E. Schmidt, and R. B. Wiringa, Quantum Monte Carlo methods for nuclear physics, Rev. Mod. Phys. 87, 1067 (2015).
  27. D. Lonardoni, J. Carlson, S. Gandolfi, J. E. Lynn, K. E. Schmidt, A. Schwenk, and X. Wang, Properties of nuclei up to A=16 using local chiral interactions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 122502 (2018).
  28. A. Gezerlis, I. Tews, E. Epelbaum, M. Freunek, S. Gandolfi, K. Hebeler, A. Nogga, and A. Schwenk, Local chiral effective field theory interactions and quantum Monte Carlo applications, Phys. Rev. C 90, 054323 (2014).
  29. A. Gezerlis, I. Tews, E. Epelbaum, S. Gandolfi, K. Hebeler, A. Nogga, and A. Schwenk, Quantum Monte Carlo calculations with chiral effective field theory interactions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 032501 (2013).
  30. J. E. Lynn, I. Tews, J. Carlson, S. Gandolfi, A. Gezerlis, K. E. Schmidt, and A. Schwenk, Chiral three-nucleon interactions in light nuclei, neutron-α scattering, and neutron matter, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 062501 (2016).
  31. M. Piarulli, A. Baroni, L. Girlanda, A. Kievsky, A. Lovato, E. Lusk, L.E. Marcucci, S. C. Pieper, R. Schiavilla, M. Viviani et al., Light-nuclei spectra from chiral dynamics, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 052503 (2018).
  32. M. Piarulli, L. Girlanda, R. Schiavilla, R. N. Pérez, J. E. Amaro, and E. R. Arriola, Minimally nonlocal nucleon-nucleon potentials with chiral two-pion exchange including Δ resonances, Phys. Rev. C 91, 024003 (2015).
  33. R. Somasundaram, J. E. Lynn, L. Huth, A. Schwenk, and I. Tews, Maximally local two-nucleon interactions at NLO3 in Δ-less chiral effective field theory, Phys. Rev. C 109, 034005 (2024).
  34. D. Lonardoni, S. Gandolfi, J. E. Lynn, C. Petrie, J. Carlson, K. E. Schmidt, and A. Schwenk, Auxiliary field diffusion Monte Carlo calculations of light and medium-mass nuclei with local chiral interactions, Phys. Rev. C 97, 044318 (2018).
  35. D. Lonardoni, I. Tews, S. Gandolfi, and J. Carlson, Nuclear and neutron-star matter from local chiral interactions, Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 022033 (2020).
  36. I. Tews, J. Carlson, S. Gandolfi, and S. Reddy, Constraining the speed of sound inside neutron stars with chiral effective field theory interactions and observations, Astrophys. J. 860, 149 (2018).
  37. A. Dyhdalo, R. J. Furnstahl, K. Hebeler, and I. Tews, Regulator artifacts in uniform matter for chiral interactions, Phys. Rev. C 94, 034001 (2016).
  38. L. Huth, I. Tews, J. E. Lynn, and A. Schwenk, Analyzing the Fierz rearrangement freedom for local chiral two-nucleon potentials, Phys. Rev. C 96, 054003 (2017).
  39. I. Tews, L. Huth, and A. Schwenk, Large-cutoff behavior of local chiral effective field theory interactions, Phys. Rev. C 98, 024001 (2018).
  40. C. Drischler, K. Hebeler, and A. Schwenk, Chiral interactions up to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order and nuclear saturation, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 042501 (2019).
  41. J. Keller, K. Hebeler, and A. Schwenk, Nuclear equation of state for arbitrary proton fraction and temperature based on chiral effective field theory and a Gaussian process emulator, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 072701 (2023).
  42. J. Hoppe, C. Drischler, R. J. Furnstahl, K. Hebeler, and A. Schwenk, Weinberg eigenvalues for chiral nucleon-nucleon interactions, Phys. Rev. C 96, 054002 (2017).
  43. A. Nogga, R. G. E. Timmermans, and U. van Kolck, Renormalization of one-pion exchange and power counting, Phys. Rev. C 72, 054006 (2005).
  44. K. Hebeler and A. Schwenk, Chiral three-nucleon forces and neutron matter, Phys. Rev. C 82, 014314 (2010).
  45. K. Hebeler, S. K. Bogner, R. J. Furnstahl, A. Nogga, and A. Schwenk, Improved nuclear matter calculations from chiral low-momentum interactions, Phys. Rev. C 83, 031301 (2011).
  46. D. Gazit, S. Quaglioni, and P. Navratil, Three-nucleon low-energy constants from the consistency of interactions and currents in chiral effective field theory, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 102502 (2009); 122, 029901 (2019).
  47. K. E. Schmidt and S. Fantoni, A quantum Monte Carlo method for nucleon systems, Phys. Lett. B 446, 99 (1999).
  48. S. Zhang, J. Carlson, and J. E. Gubernatis, Constrained path quantum Monte Carlo method for fermion ground states, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 3652 (1995).
  49. M. Piarulli, I. Bombaci, D. Logoteta, A. Lovato, and R. B. Wiringa, Benchmark calculations of pure neutron matter with realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions, Phys. Rev. C 101, 045801 (2020).
  50. J. E. Lynn, I. Tews, S. Gandolfi, and A. Lovato, Quantum Monte Carlo methods in nuclear physics: Recent advances, Annu. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 69, 279 (2019).
  51. I. Tews, S. Gandolfi, A. Gezerlis, and A. Schwenk, Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of neutron matter with chiral three-body forces, Phys. Rev. C 93, 024305 (2016).
  52. C. Drischler, J. A. Melendez, R. J. Furnstahl, and D. R. Phillips, Quantifying uncertainties and correlations in the nuclear-matter equation of state, Phys. Rev. C 102, 054315 (2020).
  53. I. Tews, T. Krüger, K. Hebeler, and A. Schwenk, Neutron matter at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order in chiral effective field theory, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 032504 (2013).
  54. J. Margueron, R. H. Casali, and F. Gulminelli, Equation of state for dense nucleonic matter from metamodeling. I. Foundational aspects, Phys. Rev. C 97, 025805 (2018).
  55. J. Margueron, R. H. Casali, and F. Gulminelli, Equation of state for dense nucleonic matter from metamodeling. II. Predictions for neutron star properties, Phys. Rev. C 97, 025806 (2018).
  56. R. Somasundaram, C. Drischler, I. Tews, and J. Margueron, Constraints on the nuclear symmetry energy from asymmetric-matter calculations with chiral NN and 3N interactions, Phys. Rev. C 103, 045803 (2021).
  57. G. Grams, R. Somasundaram, J. Margueron, and E. Khan, Nuclear incompressibility and speed of sound in uniform matter and finite nuclei, Phys. Rev. C 106, 044305 (2022).
  58. I. Tews, J. M. Lattimer, A. Ohnishi, and E. E. Kolomeitsev, Symmetry parameter constraints from a lower bound on neutron-matter energy, Astrophys. J. 848, 105 (2017).
  59. D. Adhikari, H. Albataineh, D. Androic, K. Aniol, D. S. Armstrong, T. Averett, C. A. Gayoso, S. Barcus, V. Bellini, R. S. Beminiwattha et al., Accurate determination of the neutron skin thickness of Pb208 through parity-violation in electron scattering, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 172502 (2021).
  60. F. Douchin and P. Haensel, A unified equation of state of dense matter and neutron star structure, Astron. Astrophys. 380, 151 (2001).
  61. P. T. H. Pang, T. Dietrich, M. W. Coughlin, M. Bulla, I. Tews, M. Almualla, T. Barna, R. W. Kiendrebeogo, N. Kunert, G. Mansingh et al., An updated nuclear-physics and multi-messenger astrophysics framework for binary neutron star mergers, Nat. Commun. 14, 8352 (2023).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Research 7, 033024– Published 7 July, 2025
  • Received 24 July 2024
  • Accepted 21 May 2025
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation