Probing neutron-star matter in the lab: similarities and differences between binary mergers and heavy-ion collisions

Binary neutron-star mergers and heavy-ion collisions are related through the properties of the hot and dense nuclear matter formed during these extreme events. In particular, low-energy heavy-ion collisions offer exciting prospects to recreate such extreme conditions in the laboratory. However, it remains unexplored to what degree those collisions can actually reproduce hot and dense matter formed in binary neutron star mergers. As a way to understand similarities and differences between these systems, we discuss their geometry and perform a direct numerical comparison of the thermodynamic conditions probed in both collisions. To enable a direct comparison, we employ a finite-temperature equation of state able to describe the entire high-energy phase diagram of quantum chromodynamics. Putting side by side the evolution of both systems, we find that laboratory heavy-ion collisions at the energy range of E_(lab) = 0.4–0.6 A MeV probe (thermodynamic) states of matter that are very similar to those created in binary neutron-star mergers. These results can inform future low-energy heavy-ion collisions probing this regime.