Nuclear structures in the crust of neutron stars and realistic nucleon - nucleon interactions

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Herbert Müther
• Subject Area: Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Fields ; Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: from 2012 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 219491595

The nuclear structure in the crust of neutron stars poses a great challenge for theoretical nuclear physics as it requires the description of the transition from a lattice of isolated nuclei to the homogeneous nuclear matter in the interior. It is the aim of this project to develop a tool which allows the microscopic description of this transitional region, which is based on a realistic model of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. The change in the pairing correlations going from homogeneous matter to the inhomogeneous structures will be of special interest.This project should provide input information which is necessary for the simulation of neutron stars. This includes a realistic equation of state, but also the specific heat and viscosity of this matter as well as the information about the interaction of these nucleonic structures with neutrinos. Based on this information one can evaluate the cooling scenarios of neutron stars and characteristic vibrational modes. The cooling scenarios can be compared to the temperatures observed for neutron stars, which were born in historic times. Vibrational modes are of high interest as they provide possible sources of graviational waves.In addition, the tools to be developed can be used to evaluate the structure of exotic nuclei at the borders of the valley of stability.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants