Enforcing causality in nonrelativistic equations of state at finite temperature

We present a thermodynamically consistent method by which equations of state based on nonrelativistic potential models can be modified so that they respect causality at high densities, both at zero and finite temperature (entropy). We illustrate the application of the method by using the high-density phase parametrization of the well-known Akmal-Pandharipande-Ravenhall model in its pure neutron matter configuration as an example. We also show that, for models with only contact interactions, the adiabatic speed of sound is independent of the temperature in the limit of very large temperature. This feature is approximately valid for models with finite-range interactions as well, insofar as the temperature dependence they introduce to the Landau effective mass is weak. In addition, our study reveals that in first-principle nonrelativistic models of hot and dense matter, contributions from higher-than-two-body interactions must be screened at high density to preserve causality.