Fig. 1: Conformalization of neutron-star matter.
From: Strongly interacting matter exhibits deconfined behavior in massive neutron stars
The measure of conformality \({d}_{{{{{{{{\rm{c}}}}}}}}}\equiv \sqrt{{\Delta }^{2}+{({\Delta }^{{\prime} })}^{2}}\), as a function of baryon density. The dark and light red bands correspond to 68% and 95% credible intervals (CIs) obtained using a 4-segment speed of sound interpolation \(({c}_{{{{{{{{\rm{s}}}}}}}},4}^{2})\), while the dash-dotted lines show the corresponding 68% CIs for a GP regression. Theoretical limits for dc arising from CEFT and pQCD are shown as violet bands, while the inferred quantity is seen to exhibit a qualitative change in its behavior around n ~ 2 − 3nsat. The blue, yellow, and green bands show 68% credible intervals for the central densities of 1.4M⊙, 2.0M⊙, and maximally massive MTOV stars, respectively. The dashed horizontal line finally corresponds to our definition of nearly conformal matter. The 1.4M⊙ stars lie firmly above the dashed line, while maximally massive stars lie mostly below the line.
