The equation of state (EOS) of hot and dense matter is an essential ingredient in the description of astrophysical phenomena such as core-collapse supernovae, neutron stars and their mergers. A complete calculation of the properties of the EOS must address several degrees of freedom (nuclei, nucleons, other hadrons, quarks), take into account phase transitions, and cover wide ranges of density n, charge fraction Y, and temperature T. This project will introduce refinements to the sub-nuclear component of the EOS and explore collective effects and thermal pions at supra-nuclear densities using a combination of phenomenological and microscopic, quantum many-body techniques. The macroscopic consequences of these improvements will be investigated in general-relativistic hydrodynamic simulations of supernovae and neutron star mergers in collaboration with other groups. Tables of the properties of the EOS as functions of (n, Y, T) will be made publicly available.

Constantinos Constantinou– INFN TIFPA
Dr. Constantinos Constantinou (PhD in Physics, Stony Brook University, 2013) is a researcher at the INFN TIFPA Center.
His research interests lie within the field of Nuclear Astrophysics, in particular hadronic and quark matter in core-collapse supernovae, neutron stars, and their mergers as well as the composition, structure, and thermal evolution of neutron stars.
He is currently involved in projects investigating the nuclear equation of state beyond the mean-field level, the role of pions in hot and dense matter, and quarkyonic matter and the cooling of protoneutron stars.