Neutron matter from chiral effective field theory interactions

Abstract

The neutron-matter equation of state constrains the properties of many physical systems over a wide density range and can be studied systematically using chiral effective field theory (EFT). In chiral EFT, all many-body forces among neutrons are predicted to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N${}^{3}$LO). We present details and additional results of the first complete N${}^{3}$LO calculation of the neutron-matter energy, which includes the subleading three-nucleon as well as the leading four-nucleon forces, and provides theoretical uncertainties. In addition, we discuss the impact of our results for astrophysics: for the supernova equation of state, the symmetry energy and its density derivative, and for the structure of neutron stars. Finally, we give a first estimate for the size of the N${}^{3}$LO many-body contributions to the energy of symmetric nuclear matter, which shows that their inclusion will be important in nuclear structure calculations.