Constraining gravity with hadron physics: neutron stars, modified gravity and gravitational waves

Abstract

The finding of Gravitational Waves (GW) by the aLIGO scientific and VIRGO collaborations opens opportunities to better test and understand strong interactions, both nuclear-hadronic and gravitational. Assuming General Relativity holds, one can constrain hadron physics at a neutron star. But precise knowledge of the Equation of State and transport properties in hadron matter can also be used to constrain the theory of gravity itself. I review a couple of these opportunities in the context of modified f (R) gravity, the maximum mass of neutron stars, and progress in the Equation of State of neutron matter from the chiral effective field theory of QCD.