Light clusters as a possible source of crustal impurities: a quasi-particle approach

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Pais, Helena, Dinh-Thi, Hoa, Fantina, Anthea F., Gulminelli, Francesca, Providência, Constança
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Pais, Helena
Dinh-Thi, Hoa
Fantina, Anthea F.
Gulminelli, Francesca
Providência, Constança
author_facet Pais, Helena
Dinh-Thi, Hoa
Fantina, Anthea F.
Gulminelli, Francesca
Providência, Constança
contents The presence of impurities in the neutron star crust is known to affect in an important way the thermal and electrical conductivity of the star. In this work, we explore the possibility that such impurities might arise from the simultaneous presence of heavy ions together with Hydrogen and Helium isotopes formed during the cooling process of the star. We consider an equilibrium population of such light particles at temperatures close to the crystallization of the crust within an effective quasi-particle approach including in-medium binding energy shifts, and using different versions of the relativistic mean field approach for the crustal modeling. Thermal effects are consistently included also in the dominant ion species present in each crustal layer described in the compressible liquid drop approximation. We find that the impurity factor associated to light clusters is comparatively very small and can be neglected in transport calculations, even if a strong model dependence is observed.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_12064
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Light clusters as a possible source of crustal impurities: a quasi-particle approach
Pais, Helena
Dinh-Thi, Hoa
Fantina, Anthea F.
Gulminelli, Francesca
Providência, Constança
Nuclear Theory
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
The presence of impurities in the neutron star crust is known to affect in an important way the thermal and electrical conductivity of the star. In this work, we explore the possibility that such impurities might arise from the simultaneous presence of heavy ions together with Hydrogen and Helium isotopes formed during the cooling process of the star. We consider an equilibrium population of such light particles at temperatures close to the crystallization of the crust within an effective quasi-particle approach including in-medium binding energy shifts, and using different versions of the relativistic mean field approach for the crustal modeling. Thermal effects are consistently included also in the dominant ion species present in each crustal layer described in the compressible liquid drop approximation. We find that the impurity factor associated to light clusters is comparatively very small and can be neglected in transport calculations, even if a strong model dependence is observed.
title Light clusters as a possible source of crustal impurities: a quasi-particle approach
topic Nuclear Theory
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.12064