Abstract
The properties of the neutron star crust are crucially important for many physical processes occurring in the star. For instance, the crustal transport coefficients define the temperature evolution of accreting stars after bursts, which can be compared to observation. Furthermore, the structure of the inner crust can modify the neutrino transport through the matter considerably, significantly impacting the dynamics of supernova explosions. Therefore, we perform numerical studies of the inner crust, and among other aspects, investigate the dependence of the pasta phase on the isospin properties of the nuclear interactions. To this end we developed an efficient computer code to simulate the inner and outer crust using molecular dynamics techniques. First results of the simulations and insights into the crust-core transition are presented.
Highlights
Many properties of strong interaction theory are still unknown
There are large experimental efforts to investigate strongly interacting matter at high temperature and varying density in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Complementary to this effort the study of neutron stars allows for deducing or at least constraining the behaviour of very dense and mostly cold matter
The outer crust consists of a sequence of more and more neutron rich nuclei forming a lattice embedded in a gas of electrons
Summary
Many properties of strong interaction theory are still unknown. In particular, there are large experimental efforts to investigate strongly interacting matter at high temperature and varying density in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Interpreting neutron star observations frequently requires knowledge of the high-density core and of the about 1 km thick crust that surrounds it.
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