dr Thomas Klaehn

Towards a microscopic equation of state of dense matter for astrophysical applications

The equation of state (EoS) is one of the crucial ingredients for a realistic simulation of dense astrophysical systems, viz. neutron stars and supernovae. In particular the latter rely on EoS-models which cover an extremely wide range of temperature, density and isospin-asymmetry. Besides the uncertainties at supersaturation densities, one faces challenges in describing the formation and dissolution of the elements in the nuclear medium at subsaturation densities. I will discuss the two, presently used EoS covering the required parameter space, point out their shortcomings, and report on recent progress towards improved, more realistic, microscopically sound EoS.