Kaon Production in Heavy-Ion Collisions and Kaon Condensation in Neutron Stars

The recent past witnesses the growing interdependence between the physics of hadrons, the physics of relativistic heavy-ion collisions, and the physics of compact objects in astrophysics. A notable example is the kaon which plays special roles in all the three fields. In this talk, we first review the various theoretical investigations of kaon properties in nuclear medium. We then present a detailed transport model study of kaon production and flow in heavy-ion collisions at SIS energies. Finally, We discuss the effects of the kaon in-medium properties extracted from heavy-ion data on neutron star properties, especially on the lowering of maximum mass of neutron stars with the onset of kaon condensation around $3ρ_0$.