The neutrino opacity of neutron rich matter

Alcain, P. N.; Dorso, C. O.

doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2017.02.011

Cited by 15 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Nuclear pasta are confined to a thin layer, yet they constitute a significant fraction of the crustal mass as they span densities of 0.1 − 1 ρ 0 . They may also impact several properties of the neutron star such as its thermal and electrical conductivity, and the elasticity and neutrino opacity of the crust, the latter of which is relevant for the physics of core-collapse supernovae and neutron star cooling [84,[150][151][152][153]. A number of computational studies of pasta phases have been recently carried out for different temperatures, densities and proton fractions, which the interested reader may find in Refs.…”

Section: Inner Crustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warming nuclear pasta with dark matter: kinetic and annihilation heating of neutron star crusts

Acevedo

Bramante

Leane

et al. 2020

J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.

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Neutron stars serve as excellent next-generation thermal detectors of dark matter, heated by the scattering and annihilation of dark matter accelerated to relativistic speeds in their deep gravitational wells. However, the dynamics of neutron star cores are uncertain, making it difficult at present to unequivocally compute dark matter scattering in this region. On the other hand, the physics of an outer layer of the neutron star, the crust, is more robustly understood. We show that dark matter scattering solely with the low-density crust still kinetically heats neutron stars to infrared temperatures detectable by forthcoming telescopes. We find that for both spin-independent and spin-dependent scattering on nucleons, the crust-only cross section sensitivity is 10 −43 − 10 −41 cm 2 for dark matter masses of 100 MeV − 1 PeV, with the best sensitivity arising from dark matter scattering with a crust constituent called nuclear pasta (including gnocchi, spaghetti, and lasagna phases). For dark matter masses from 10 eV to 1 MeV, the sensitivity is 10 −39 − 10 −34 cm 2 , arising from exciting collective phonon modes in a neutron superfluid in the inner crust. Furthermore, for any s-wave or p-wave annihilating dark matter, we show that dark matter will efficiently annihilate by thermalizing just with the neutron star crust, regardless of whether the dark matter ever scatters with the neutron star core. This implies efficient annihilation in neutron stars for any electroweakly interacting dark matter with inelastic mass splittings of up to 200 MeV, including Higgsinos. We conclude that neutron star crusts play a key role in dark matter scattering and annihilation in neutron stars. *

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Section: Inner Crustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warming nuclear pasta with dark matter: kinetic and annihilation heating of neutron star crusts

Acevedo

Bramante

Leane

et al. 2020

J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.

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“…The structure factor of the system is directly related to the radial correlation function g(r) via a Fourier transform. Here we calculate S(q) according the prescription developed for systems in periodic cells in [10,57].…”

Section: Structure Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This parameter-free model has been successfully used to study nuclear reactions obtaining mass multiplicities, momenta, excitation energies, secondary decay yields, critical phenomena and isoscaling behavior that have been compared to experimental data [26,[67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75]. More recently, and of interest to the present work, the model was used to study infinite nuclear systems at low temperatures [41] and in neutron star crust environments, including the pasta structures that form in NM and NSM [10,18,19,21,32,51].…”

Section: A Classical Molecular Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Knowing the structures attained by neutron crusts is an important factor in the understanding of star-quakes, pulsar frequencies and neutron star evolution. Indeed since the cooling of non-pulsar neutron stars is due mostly to neutrino emission from the core, the interaction between neutrinos and the crust structure is relevant to their thermal evolution [10]. The study of such structures is the main goal of this review.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Properties of nuclear pastas

2020

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In this Review we study the nuclear pastas as they are expected to be formed in neutron star cores. We start with a study of the pastas formed in nuclear matter (composed of protons and neutrons), we follow with the role of the electron gas on the formation of pastas, and we then investigate the pastas in neutron star matter (nuclear matter embedded in an electron gas). Nuclear matter (NM) at intermediate temperatures (1 MeVT 15 MeV), at saturation and sub-saturation densities, and with proton content ranging from 30% to 50% was found to have liquid, gaseous and liquid-gas mixed phases. The isospin-dependent phase diagram was obtained along with the critical points, and the symmetry energy was calculated and compared to experimental data and other theories. At low temperatures (T 1 MeV) NM produces crystal-like structures around saturation densities, and pasta-like structures at sub-saturation densities. Properties of the pasta structures were studied with cluster-recognition algorithms, caloric curve, the radial distribution function, the Lindemann coefficient, Kolmogorov statistics, Minkowski functionals; the symmetry energy of the pasta showed a connection with its morphology.Neutron star matter (NSM) is nuclear matter embedded in an electron gas. The electron gas is included in the calculation by the inclusion of an screened Coulomb potential. To connect the NM pastas with those in neutron star matter (NSM), the role the strength and screening length of the Coulomb interaction have on the formation of the pastas in NM was investigated. Past was found to exist even without the presence of the electron gas, but the effect of the Coulomb interaction is to form more defined pasta structures, among other effects. Likewise, it was determined that there is a minimal screening length for the developed structures to be independent of the cell size.Neutron star matter was found to have similar phases as NM, phase transitions, symmetry energy, structure function and thermal conductivity. Like in NM, pasta forms at around T ≈ 1.5 MeV, and liquid-to-solid phase changes were detected at T ≈ 0.5 MeV. The structure function and the symmetry energy were also found to depend on the pasta structures. Contents I. IntroductionA. The pasta B. The pasta in nuclear matter and in neutron star matter II. Nuclear matter A. Nuclear matter at intermediate temperatures B. Nuclear matter at low temperatures C. Summary of nuclear matter properties III. Electron gas: connecting nuclear matter with neutron star matter A. The strength of V C B. The screening length C. Summarizing the electron gas IV. Neutron star matter A. Symmetric neutron star matter B. Non-symmetric neutron star matter C. The symmetry energy D. Neutrino transport properties E. Properties of non-traditional pasta F. The nucleon thermal conductivity G. Summary of NSM properties V. Conclusion A. Nuclear matter B. The electron gas C. The pasta in neutron star matter VI. Appendices A. Classical Molecular Dynamics B. The Maxwell construction C. Nuclear symmetry energy from CMD at...

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“…At colder temperatures (T < 1 MeV) nuclear systems are theorized to form the so-called "nuclear pasta", which are of interest in the physics of neutron stars [8]. Since neutron star cooling is due mostly to neutrino emission from the core, the interaction between neutrinos and the crust pasta structure is bound to be relevant in the thermal evolution of these stars [9]. An additional challenge of the study of E sym in these cold and sparse systems is that nucleons in the pasta have been found to undergo phase transitions between solid and liquid phases [10] within the pasta structures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phase transitions and symmetry energy in nuclear pasta

2018

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Cold and isospin-symmetric nuclear matter at sub-saturation densities is known to form the socalled pasta structures, which, in turn, are known to undergo peculiar phase transitions. Here we investigate if such pastas and their phase changes survive in isospin asymmetric nuclear matter, and whether the symmetry energy of such pasta configurations is connected to the isospin content, the morphology of the pasta and to the phase transitions. We find that indeed pastas are formed in isospin asymmetric systems with proton to neutron ratios of x = 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5, densities in the range of 0.05 fm −3 < ρ < 0.08 fm −3 , and temperatures T < 2 MeV. Using tools (such as the caloric curve, Lindemann coefficient, radial distribution function, Kolmogorov statistic, and Euler functional) on the composition of the pasta, determined the existence of homogeneous structures, tunnels, empty regions, cavities and transitions among these regions. The symmetry energy was observed to attain different values in the different phases showing its dependence on the morphology of the nuclear matter structure.

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The neutrino opacity of neutron rich matter

Cited by 15 publications

References 45 publications

Warming nuclear pasta with dark matter: kinetic and annihilation heating of neutron star crusts

Warming nuclear pasta with dark matter: kinetic and annihilation heating of neutron star crusts

Properties of nuclear pastas

Phase transitions and symmetry energy in nuclear pasta

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