Strong interactions at neutron-rich extremes
Prof. Dr. Achim Schwenk (Institut für Kernphysik, TU Darmstadt)

The strong force, described by quantum chromodynamics (QCD), is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature. It gives rise to the formation of hadrons and nuclei that constitute the baryonic matter in the Universe, and governs the densest matter in neutron stars and highest temperatures reached in compact object mergers. However, big science problems of QCD remain unsolved, regarding the origin of heavy elements in the Universe, and the structure of extreme neutron-rich matter in the laboratory and in neutron stars. The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) will discover over a thousand new isotopes, getting as close as possible to the nuclei in the Universe's heavy-element nucleosynthesis pathway, the r-process. On the theoretical side, there are impressive advances towards a unified description of all nuclei and matter based on effective field theories of QCD. In this talk, we will discuss the advances, status and challenges in understanding strongly interacting matter at neutron-rich extremes in the laboratory and the cosmos.