Appearance of the Single Gyroid Network Phase in Nuclear Pasta Matter

Abstract

Nuclear matter under the conditions of a supernova explosion unfolds into a rich variety of spatially structured phases, called nuclear pasta. We investigate the role of periodic network-like structures with negatively curved interfaces in nuclear pasta structures, by static and dynamic Hartree-Fock simulations in periodic lattices. As the most prominent result, we identify for the first time the {\it single gyroid} network structure of cubic chiral $I{4}_{1}23$ symmetry, a well known configuration in nanostructured soft-matter systems, both as a dynamical state and as a cooled static solution. Single gyroid structures form spontaneously in the course of the dynamical simulations. Most of them are isomeric states. The very small energy differences to the ground state indicate its relevance for structures in nuclear pasta.

7 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (5)

• The Skyrme Interaction in finite nuclei and nuclear matter
• Nuclear matter in the crust of neutron stars
• Gyroid Phase in Nuclear Pasta
• Curvature effect on nuclear pasta: Is it helpful for gyroid appearance?
• Coulomb forces in neutron star crusts

Cited by in corpus (5)

• A New Open-Source Nuclear Equation of State Framework based on the Liquid-Drop Model with Skyrme Interaction
• Pasta Nucleosynthesis: Molecular dynamics simulations of nuclear statistical equilibrium
• Enhanced nucleon transfer in tip collisions of ${}^{238}$U+${}^{124}$Sn
• Theoretical study of electron structure of superheavy elements with an open $6d$-shell, Sg, Bh, Hs and Mt
• Kinematic formulae for tensorial curvature measures