Nuclear Constraints on the Moments of Inertia of Neutron Stars

Properties and structure of neutron stars are determined by the equation ofstate (EOS) of neutron-rich stellar matter. While the collective flow andparticle production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions have constrainedtightly the EOS of symmetric nuclear matter up to about five times the normalnuclear matter density, the more recent experimental data on isospin-diffusionand isoscaling in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies haveconstrained considerably the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energyat subsaturation densities. Although there are still many uncertainties andchallenges to pin down completely the EOS of neutron-rich nuclear matter, theheavy-ion reaction experiments in terrestrial laboratories have limited the EOSof neutron-rich nuclear matter in a range much narrower than that spanned byvarious EOSs currently used in astrophysical studies in the literature. Thesenuclear physics constraints could thus provide more reliable information aboutproperties of neutron stars. Within well established formalisms using thenuclear constrained EOSs we study the momenta of inertia of neutron stars. Weput the special emphasis on the component A of the extremely relativisticdouble neutron star system PSR J0737-3039. Its moment of inertia is found to bebetween 1.30 and 1.63 $(\times10^{45}g$ $cm^2)$. Moreover, the transitiondensity at the crust-core boundary is shown to be in the narrow range of$\rho_t=[0.091-0.093](fm^{-3})$.