Model of interacting neutron matter at post supernova collapse temperatures

A model of hot, strongly interacting matter is presented which is relativistic both in its description of the interactions and in its inclusions of finite density and temperature effects. This model whose zero temperature limit has been published earlier, is fit to nuclear matter and was used to construct model neutron stars whose masses and moments of inertia are in excellent agreement with observational data on pulsars, and compact x-ray sources. Extensive numerical results are presented which bridge the temperature and density interval separating current models of supernova remnants as predicted by evolutionary calculations based on ideal gas equations of state and the final configurations of cold neutron stars. Particular emphasis is given to the region along a collapse adiabat through T = 10100K and epsilon = 1010 g/cm3