Crust-core properties of neutron stars in the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model**Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11775049, 11275048) and the China Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation (BK20131286)

Abstract

We adopt the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model to study the crust-core transition properties in neutron stars (NSs). For a given momentum cutoff and symmetry energy of saturation density in the NJL model, decreasing the slope of the symmetry energy gives rise to an increase in the crust-core transition density and transition pressure. Given the slope of the symmetry energy at saturation density, the transition density and corresponding transition pressure increase with increasing symmetry energy. The increasing trend between the fraction of the crustal moment of inertia and the slope of symmetry energy at saturation density indicates that a relatively large momentum cutoff of the NJL model is preferred. For a momentum cutoff of 500 MeV, the fraction of the crustal moment of inertia clearly increases with the slope of symmetry energy at saturation density. Thus, at the required fraction (7%) of the crustal moment of inertia, the NJL model with momentum cutoff of 500 MeV and a large slope of the symmetry energy of saturation density can give the upper limit of the mass of the Vela pulsar to be above 1.40 .