THE NUCLEAR PHYSICS OF NEUTRON STARS

How Does Subatomic Matter Organize Itself? With their enormous dynamic range in density and neutron-proton asymmetry, neutron stars provide unique laboratories to answer this challenging question. Indeed, a neutron star is a gold mine for the study of physical phenomena that cut across a variety of disciplines, ranging from elementary particle physics to general relativity. Although the most common perception of a neutron star is that of a uniform assembly of neutrons packed to enormous densities, the reality is far different and much more interesting. In this contribution, we will focus on the dynamics of neutron-rich matter with special emphasis on its impact on the structure and composition of the outer crust. In particular, we will discuss a novel method that combines modern theoretical approaches with Bayesian Neural Networks to build a new mass formula that is then used to compute the crustal composition.