Dependence of the tidal deformability of neutron stars on the nuclear equation of state

Abstract

Abstract Within the Bayesian framework using an explicitly isospin-dependent parametric equation of state (EOS) for the core of neutron stars (NSs), we study how the NS EOS behave when we confront them with the tidal deformabilities $\Lambda_{1.4}$ of canonical NSs with different error and different lower boundaries, and with the tidal deformabilities of the massive NSs. We found that it will not highly improve the constraints on the NS EOS but have a weak effect on narrowing down the slope parameter of the symmetry energy by decreasing the measurement errors of $\Lambda_{1.4}$. Both the isospin-dependent and isospin-independent parts of the NS EOS are significantly constrained and raised as the tidal deformabilities of the massive NSs are adopted in the calculations, especially in high-density regions. It is also found that $\Lambda_{1.4}$ is more competent to limit the curvature parameter than the slope parameter of the symmetry energy, whereas the opposite case happens for the radius of canonical NSs $R_{1.4}$. The tidal deformability of the NS with two times of solar mass $\Lambda_{2.0}$ is more sensitive to the skewness than curvature parameter of the symmetry energy, and $\Lambda_{1.4}$ and $R_{1.4}$ have no correlation with the former.