Isospin asymmetry and neutron stars in V-QCD

Abstract

Isospin asymmetric nuclear matter is introduced to V-QCD, a bottom-up holographic Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) model. Using a small isospin chemical potential we extract the symmetry energy in the model, finding excellent agreement with experimental results for some of the potentials. Extending the calculation for finite and arbitrary sized isospin chemical potentials, we construct beta-equilibrated neutron stars via the usual Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov (TOV) equations. We find, pleasingly, that the neutron stars passing the mass/radius and tidal deformability constraints are those with the potentials that also lead to excellent symmetry energies.