Comparison between the Thomas–Fermi and Hartree–Fock–Bogoliubov Methods in the Inner Crust of a Neutron Star: The Role of Pairing Correlations

Matthew Shelley,Alessandro Pastore

doi:10.3390/universe6110206

Abstract

We investigated the role of a pairing correlation in the chemical composition of the inner crust of a neutron star with the extended Thomas–Fermi method, using the Strutinsky integral correction. We compare our results with the fully self-consistent Hartree–Fock–Bogoliubov approach, showing that the resulting discrepancy, apart from the very low density region, is compatible with the typical accuracy we can achieve with standard mean-field methods.

Highlights

The quest to find the equation of state (EoS) that best describes the properties of neutron stars (NS) [1] is one of the major challenges in nuclear physics
This result is independent on the use or not of the energy correction given by neutron pairing correlations
We have presented a systematic comparison between solving the HFB equations and using the extended Thomas–Fermi + Strutinsky integral method (ETFSI) method, using exactly the same numerical conditions

Summary

Introduction

The quest to find the equation of state (EoS) that best describes the properties of neutron stars (NS) [1] is one of the major challenges in nuclear physics. Thanks to the latest advances both in the way one observes them [5] and the technique used [6], it is possible to provide additional constraints to the EoS [7,8] By combining those with more traditional constraints based on heavy-ion collision experiments [9,10] it is possible to obtain interesting information about the properties of nuclear matter at high densities. By combining all this information, together with the most recent measurements of finite nuclei [11], it is possible to construct accurate models to describe the physics of such massive objects

Objectives

Results

Conclusion