We construct a new equation of state (EOS) for numerical simulations of core-collapse supernovae and neutron-star mergers based on an extended relativistic mean-field model with a small symmetry energy slope L, which is compatible with both experimental nuclear data and recent observations of neutron stars. The new EOS table (EOS4) based on the extended TM1 (TM1e) model with L = 40 MeV is designed in the same tabular form and compared with the commonly used Shen EOS (EOS2) based on the original TM1 model with L = 110.8 MeV. This is convenient and useful for performing numerical simulations and examining the influences of symmetry energy and its density dependence on astrophysical phenomena. In comparison with the TM1 model used in EOS2, the TM1e model provides a similar maximum neutron-star mass but smaller radius and tidal deformability for a 1.4M ⊙ neutron star, which is more consistent with current constraints. By comparing the phase diagram and thermodynamic quantities between EOS4 and EOS2, it is found that the TM1e model predicts relatively larger region of nonuniform matter and softer EOS for neutron-rich matter. Significant differences between EOS4 and EOS2 are observed in the case with low proton fraction, while the properties of symmetric matter remain unchanged.

We study the effects of nuclear symmetry energy on the mass-radius relation and tidal deformability of neutron stars, considering the self-consistency of the equation of state (EOS). We first construct a set of unified EOSs based on relativistic mean-field models with different density dependence of the symmetry energy. For the description of pasta phases appearing in the inner crust of neutron stars, we perform a self-consistent Thomas-Fermi calculation using the same nuclear interaction as that for the uniform matter in the core. To examine possible effects from the self-consistency of the EOS on neutron-star properties, we separately investigate the impacts of crust and core segments. By matching the same core EOS to different crust EOSs, it is found that neutron-star radii are significantly affected by the crust segment. On the other hand, the neutron-star radii are also strongly dependent on the core EOS. However, the correlation between the radius and the symmetry energy slope of the core EOS is opposite to that of the crust EOS. It is likely that the nuclear model with a small slope parameter is favored by recent astrophysical observations.

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