Neutron Rich Nuclei in Heaven and Earth: Proceedings of the International Conference on Current Problems in Nuclear Physics and Atomic Energy

Abstract

The nucleus of 208Pb -- a system that is 18 order of magnitudes smaller and 55 orders of magnitude lighter than a neutron star -- may be used as a miniature surrogate to establish important correlations between its neutron skin and several neutron-star properties. Indeed, a nearly model-independent correlation develops between the neutron skin of 208Pb and the liquid-to-solid transition density in a neutron star. Further, we illustrate how a measurement of the neutron skin in 208Pb may be used to place important constraints on the cooling mechanism operating in neutron stars and may help elucidate the existence of quarks stars.