The masses and radii of neutron stars are discussed in general relativity and scalar-tensor theory of gravity and the differences are compared with the current uncertainties stemming from the nuclear equation of state in the relativistic mean-field framework. It is shown that astrophysical and gravitational wave observations of radii of neutron stars with masses \(M \lesssim 1.4 M_{\odot }\) constrain only the nuclear equation of state, and in particular the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy. Future observations of massive neutron stars may constrain the coupling parameters of the scalar-tensor theory provided that a general consensus on the dense nuclear matter equation of state is reached.

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中子星的广义相对论和标量张量引力理论

在广义相对论和标量张量引力理论中讨论了中子星的质量和半径，并将其差异与相对论平均场框架中状态核方程产生的当前不确定性进行了比较。结果表明，质量为（M \ lesssim 1.4 M _ {\ odot} \）的中子星半径的天体物理学和引力波观测仅约束状态核方程，特别是约束核对称能量的密度依赖性。如果达成关于稠密核物质状态方程的一般共识，则对大质量中子星的未来观察可能会限制标量-张量理论的耦合参数。