Nonparametric constraints on neutron star matter with existing and upcoming gravitational wave and pulsar observations

Observations of neutron stars, whether in binaries or in isolation, provide information about the internal structure of the most extreme material objects in the Universe. In this work, we combine information from recent observations to place joint constraints on the properties of neutron star matter. We use (i) lower limits on the maximum mass of neutron stars obtained through radio observations of heavy pulsars, (ii) constraints on tidal properties inferred through the gravitational waves neutron star binaries emit as they coalesce, and (iii) information about neutron stars’ masses and radii obtained through X-ray emission from surface hot spots. In order to combine information from such distinct messengers while avoiding the kind of modeling systematics intrinsic to parametric inference schemes, we employ a nonparametric representation of the neutron-star equation of state based on Gaussian processes conditioned on nuclear theory models. We find that existing astronomical observations imply R_(1.4) = 12.32^(+1.09)_(−1.47) km for the radius of a 1.4 M⊙ neutron star and p(2ρ_(nuc)) = 3.8^(+2.7)_(−2.9) × 10³⁴ dyn/cm² for the pressure at twice nuclear saturation density at the 90% credible level. The upper bounds are driven by the gravitational wave observations, while X-ray and heavy pulsar observations drive the lower bounds. Additionally, we compute expected constraints from potential future astronomical observations and find that they can jointly determine R_(1.4) to O(1) km and p(2ρ_(nuc)) to 80% relative uncertainty in the next five years