A dynamical description of neutron star crusts
arXiv:1209.1488 · doi:10.1088/1742-6596/420/1/012146
Abstract
Neutron Stars are natural laboratories where fundamental properties of matter under extreme conditions can be explored. Modern nuclear physics input as well as many-body theories are valuable tools which may allow us to improve our understanding of the physics of those compact objects. In this work the occurrence of exotic structures in the outermost layers of neutron stars is investigated within the framework of a microscopic model. In this approach the nucleonic dynamics is described by a time-dependent mean field approach at around zero temperature. Starting from an initial crystalline lattice of nuclei at subnuclear densities the system evolves toward a manifold of self-organized structures with different shapes and similar energies. These structures are studied in terms of a phase diagram in density and the corresponding sensitivity to the isospin-dependent part of the equation of state and to the isotopic composition is investigated.
8 pages, 5 figures, conference NN2012
References in corpus (4)
- Neutrino-pasta scattering: the opacity of nonuniform neutron-rich matter
- Semi-classical equation of state and specific heats for neutron-star inner crust with proton shell corrections
- Nuclear matter in the crust of neutron stars derived from realistic NN interactions
- Microscopic Study of Slablike and Rodlike Nuclei: Quantum Molecular Dynamics Approach