Thermodynamically consistent accreted crust of neutron stars: The role of proton shell effects

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Gusakov, Mikhail E., Chugunov, Andrey I.
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Gusakov, Mikhail E.
Chugunov, Andrey I.
author_facet Gusakov, Mikhail E.
Chugunov, Andrey I.
contents Observations of accreting neutron stars are widely used to constrain the microphysical properties of superdense matter. A key ingredient in this analysis is the heating associated with nuclear reactions in the outer layers of the neutron star (crust), as well as the equation of state and composition of these layers. As recently shown, the neutron hydrostatic/diffusion (nHD) condition is valid in the inner part of the crust, where some of the neutrons are not bound to the nuclei, and this condition should be properly incorporated into crustal models. Here we construct models of the accreted crust of a neutron star, taking into account the nHD condition and proton shell effects in nuclei. For numerical illustration, we employ the recently proposed compressible liquid drop model, which incorporates shell effects. However, our approach is general and can also be used in future studies relying on more sophisticated nuclear physics models.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_05680
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Thermodynamically consistent accreted crust of neutron stars: The role of proton shell effects
Gusakov, Mikhail E.
Chugunov, Andrey I.
Nuclear Theory
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Observations of accreting neutron stars are widely used to constrain the microphysical properties of superdense matter. A key ingredient in this analysis is the heating associated with nuclear reactions in the outer layers of the neutron star (crust), as well as the equation of state and composition of these layers. As recently shown, the neutron hydrostatic/diffusion (nHD) condition is valid in the inner part of the crust, where some of the neutrons are not bound to the nuclei, and this condition should be properly incorporated into crustal models. Here we construct models of the accreted crust of a neutron star, taking into account the nHD condition and proton shell effects in nuclei. For numerical illustration, we employ the recently proposed compressible liquid drop model, which incorporates shell effects. However, our approach is general and can also be used in future studies relying on more sophisticated nuclear physics models.
title Thermodynamically consistent accreted crust of neutron stars: The role of proton shell effects
topic Nuclear Theory
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.05680