Symmetry energy: nuclear masses and neutron stars

We describe the main features of our most recent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov nuclear mass models, based on 16-parameter generalized Skyrme forces. They have been fitted to the data of the 2012 Atomic Mass Evaluation, and favour a value of 30MeV for the symmetry coefficient J, the corresponding root-mean square deviation being 0.549MeV. We find that this conclusion is compatible with measurements of neutron-skin thickness. By constraining the underlying interactions to fit various equations of state of neutron matter calculated ab initio our models are well adapted to a realistic and unified treatment of all regions of neutron stars. We use our models to calculate the composition, the equation of state, the mass-radius relation and the maximum mass. Comparison with observations of neutron stars again favours a value of J = 30 MeV. (orig.)