Holographic Dense QCD and Neutron Stars

Gauge/gravity duality can be useful to study QCD at high densities and low temperatures where many other theoretical tools do not work and uncertainties are therefore large. I will review recent progress on this topic, including modeling of both the nuclear and the quark matter phases at neutron star core densities. Combining predictions from gauge/gravity duality with state-of-the-art models of nuclear matter leads to a family of feasible “hybrid” equations of state for cold QCD matter. Using such equations of state, we simulate mergers of binary neutron stars and analyze the spectral properties of the produced gravitational waves.