Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Shear Moduli for Coulomb Crystals

Abstract

Torsional (shear) oscillations of neutron stars may have been observed in quasiperiodic oscillations of Magnetar Giant Flares. The frequencies of these modes depend on the shear modulus of neutron star crust. We calculate the shear modulus of Coulomb crystals from molecular dynamics simulations. We find that electron screening reduces the shear modulus by about 10% compared to previous Ogata et al. results. Our MD simulations can be extended to calculate the effects of impurities and or polycrystalline structures on the shear modulus.

4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. E

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Towards Understanding Astrophysical Effects of Nuclear Symmetry Energy
• Magnetically-driven crustquakes in neutron stars
• Possible Constraints on the Density Dependence of the Nuclear Symmetry Energy from Quasiperiodic Oscillations in Soft Gamma Repeaters
• Constraints on the symmetry energy from observational probes of the neutron star crust
• On the rate of crustal failures in young magnetars
• Axial quasi-normal modes of neutron stars: Accounting for the superfluid in the crust
• Deformed crystals and torsional oscillations of neutron star crust
• Does elasticity stabilise a magnetic neutron star?
• Electron screening effects on crustal torsional oscillations
• Revisiting neutron starquakes caused by spin-down
• Elastic properties of Yukawa crystals
• Neutron Star Crust and Molecular Dynamics Simulation
• Cosmological perturbations in the presence of a solid with positive pressure
• Friedel crystals and the outer crust of magnetars
• Breaking stress of Coulomb crystals in the neutron star crust
• A new crystalline phase in magnetar crusts