NICER Constraints on Low density Interpolation and High density Continuation in Neutron Star Equations of State

Abstract

We investigate whether current astrophysical data constrain not only the high density continuation of the neutron star equation of state, but also the low density matching procedure itself. To this end, we compare two low density branches propagated through a common high density extension and confront them with direct NICER mass-radius posteriors, a lower bound on the maximum mass, and an effective constraint on $Λ_{1.4}$. We find that the observable predictions of the two branches remain strongly overlapping, while the NICER-informed posterior still induces a nontrivial constraint on the matching parameters. Current data therefore constrain primarily the shared continuation above $n_1$, but also indirectly restrict the low-density matching sector.