Speaker
Description
The equation of state (EoS) of strongly interacting matter at the densities reached inside neutron stars (NSs) sits at the interface of low-energy nuclear theory, perturbative QCD, and multi-messenger astronomy. In this talk I will first review the current status of the zero-temperature EoS and the constraints that shape it: chiral effective field theory below nuclear saturation, perturbative QCD at asymptotically high densities, and the present generation of astrophysical observations — NICER mass–radius measurements of PSR J0030+0451, J0740+6620, J0437–4715 and J0614–3329, together with the tidal-deformability information from GW170817. I will then contrast the two complementary strategies used to translate these data into an EoS: model-agnostic schemes (c²s interpolation, fractal-bridge priors, etc.) and microscopic relativistic mean-field approaches with density-dependent or nonlinear meson couplings. Within this framework, I will briefly discuss results from our recent Bayesian studies — in particular a systematic cross-comparison of covariant energy-density functionals. I will close by extending the discussion to finite temperature, where Bayesian-constrained nucleonic and hyperonic mean-field EoSs are used to follow protoneutron-star evolution, characterise the thermal index, and translate maximum-mass measurements into indirect bounds on the hyperonic content of NS cores.