Neutron star crust beyond the Wigner-Seitz approximation
arXiv:0709.3798 · doi:10.1142/9789812797049_0014
Abstract
For more than three decades, the inner crust of neutron stars, formed of a solid lattice of nuclear clusters coexisting with a gas of electrons and neutrons, has been traditionally studied in the Wigner-Seitz approximation. The validity of this approximation is discussed in the general framework of the band theory of solids, which has been recently applied to the nuclear context. Using this novel approach, it is shown that the unbound neutrons move in the crust as if their mass was increased.
8 pages, 2 figures. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Exotic States of Nuclear Matter, Catania (Italy), June 11-15, 2007