Effective Relativistic Mean Field Research Articles

Magnetized neutron star crust within effective relativistic mean-field model

Even though the crystallize nature of the neutron star crust plays a pivotal role in describing various fascinating astrophysical observations, its microscopic structure is not fully understood in the presence of a colossal magnetic field. In the present work, we study the crustal properties of a neutron star within an effective relativistic mean field framework in the presence of magnetic field strength $\sim 10^{17}$G. We calculate the equilibrium composition of the outer crust by minimizing the Gibbs free energy using the most recent atomic mass evaluations. The magnetic field significantly affects the equation of state (EoS) and the properties of the outer crust, such as neutron drip density, pressure, and melting temperature. For the inner crust, we use the compressible liquid drop model for the first time to study the crustal properties in a magnetic environment. The inner crust properties, such as mass and charge number distribution, isospin asymmetry, cluster density, etc., show typical quantum oscillations (De Haas-van Alphen effect) sensitive to the magnetic field's strength. The density-dependent symmetry energy influences the magnetic inner crust like the field-free case. We study the probable modifications in the pasta structures and it is observed that their mass and thickness changes by $\sim 10-15 \%$ depending upon the magnetic field strength. The fundamental torsional oscillation mode frequency is investigated for the magnetized crust in the context of quasiperiodic oscillations (QPO) in soft gamma repeaters. The magnetic field strengths considered in this work influences only the EoS of outer and shallow regions of the inner crust, which results in no significant change in global neutron star properties. However, the outer crust mass and its moment of inertia increase considerably with increase in magnetic field strength.

Structure and Decay Properties of Th Isotopes Using E-RMFT Formalism

In the present scenario, the search for the thermally fissile nuclei is crucial and also important not only for the research background of nuclear physics but also for the great social and economic impact on the country. Many theoretical works have been performed to analyze a series of Th and U-isotopes and found that some of these isotopes are stable against α-decays and spontaneous fission. Here, we have chosen the isotopic chain of Th-nuclei for the present analysis using relativistic mean-field formalism. The work also explores a few stable isotopes in this region of the nuclear landscape, which is crucial for understanding the exotic region of the nuclear landscape. The objective of this work is to study the bulk properties such as binding energies, root mean square charge radii, neutron-proton radii, neutron skin-thickness as well as intrinsic properties such as excitation energy and specific heat for the 216-238 Th-isotopic chain. Furthermore, the stability of these isotopes is investigated through their possible decay chain analysis. The relativistic mean-field theory was used to obtain the nuclear bulk properties, namely, binding energies, root-mean-square charge radii, neutron skin-thickness, and excitation energy. The steady solution of the temperature-dependent effective relativistic mean-field equations was obtained self-consistently by taking different inputs of the initial deformations. All the calculations were done for NL3, FSUGarnet and IOPB-I parameter sets for 216-238 Th-isotopes. The decay energy of α (Q α ) and β-decay (Q β ) were calculated from the binding energies and were further used to obtain the corresponding half-lives. We have analyzed the structural and decay properties of 216-238 Th isotopes. The excitation energy and specific heat are also estimated for these considered nuclei by using the temperature-dependent effective relativistic mean-field (E-RMFT) formalism for NL3, FSUGarnet and IOPB-I parameters sets. The calculated results are compared with the available experimental data and found similar observations for all the parameter sets at a given temperature. The excitation energy study signifies the shell melting point where maybe the shape transition occurs. Three phenomenological formulae such as Viola-Seaborg, Royer and modified universal decay law are adopted for the calculation of α-decay half-lives. We found lower values of α-decay half-lives indicating a higher rate of β-decay for the isotopic chain.

Pasta properties of the neutron star within effective relativistic mean-field model

We study the properties of pasta structures and their influence on the neutron star observables employing the effective relativistic mean-field (E-RMF) model. The compressible liquid drop model is used to incorporate the finite size effects, considering the possibility of nonspherical structures in the inner crust. The unified equation of states are constructed for several E-RMF parameters to study various properties such as pasta mass and thickness in the neutron star's crust. The majority of the pasta properties are sensitive to the symmetry energy in the subsaturation density region. Using the results from Monte Carlo simulations, we estimate the shear modulus of the crust in the context of quasiperiodic oscillations from soft gamma-ray repeaters and calculate the frequency of fundamental torsional oscillation mode in the inner crust. Global properties of the neutron star such as mass-radius profile, the moment of inertia, crustal mass, crustal thickness, and fractional crustal moment of inertia are worked out. The results are consistent with various observational and theoretical constraints.

Crustal properties of a neutron star within an effective relativistic mean-field model

We use the effective relativistic mean-field (E-RMF) model to study the crustal properties of the neutron star. The unified equations of state (EoS) are constructed using recently developed E-RMF parameter sets, such as FSUGarnet, IOPB-I, and G3. The outer crust composition is determined using the atomic mass evaluation 2020 data [Huang et al. Chin. Phys. C 45, 030002 (2021) along with the available Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov mass models [Goriely et al. Phys. Rev. C 88, 024308 (2013) for neutron-rich nuclei. The structure of the inner crust is estimated by performing the compressible liquid drop model calculations using the same E-RMF functional as that for the uniform nuclear matter in the liquid core. Various neutron star properties such as mass-radius ($M\ensuremath{-}R$) relation, the moment of inertia ($I$), the fractional crustal moment of inertia (${I}_{\text{crust}}/I$), mass (${M}_{\text{crust}}$) and thickness (${l}_{\text{crust}}$) of the crust are calculated with three unified EoSs. The crustal properties are found to be sensitive to the density-dependent symmetry energy and slope parameter advocating the importance of the unified treatment of neutron star EoS. The three unified EoSs, IOPB-I-U, FSUGarnet-U, and G3-U, reproduced the observational data obtained with different pulsars, NICER, and glitch activity and are found suitable for further description of the structure of the neutron star.

Critical behaviour of an effective relativistic mean field model in the presence of magnetic background and boundaries

In the present work we investigate the combined influence of magnetic background and boundaries on the thermodynamic properties of effective relativistic mean field models, like the so-called Walecka model. This is done by making use of generalized zeta-function approach and mean-field approximation at effective chemical equilibrium, focusing on the dependence with the size of compactified spatial dimension, the temperature and the magnetic field strength. The findings suggest a rich phase structure in the parameter space. The maintenance of long-range correlations is strongly affected under the change of these parameters, with the symmetric phase being favoured due to both inverse magnetic catalysis effect and the reduction of size of compactified dimension.

Thermodynamic instabilities in hot and dense nuclear matter

We study the presence of thermodynamic instabilities in a hot and dense nuclear medium where a nuclear phase transition can take place. Similarly to the low density nuclear liquid-gas phase transition, we show that such a phase transition is characterized by pure hadronic matter with both mechanical instability (fluctuations on the baryon density) that by chemical-diffusive instability (fluctuations on the strangeness concentration). The analysis is performed by requiring the global conservation of baryon number and zero net strangeness in the framework of an effective relativistic mean field theory with the inclusion of the Δ(1232)-isobars, hyperons and the lightest pseudoscalar and vector meson degrees of freedom. It turns out that in this situation hadronic phases with different values of strangeness content may coexist, altering significantly meson-antimeson ratios.

Chemical and mechanical instabilities in high energy heavy-ion collisions

We investigate the possible thermodynamic instability in a warm and dense nuclear medium where a phase transition from nucleonic matter to resonance-dominated Δ-matter can take place. Such a phase transition is characterized by both mechanical instability (fluctuations on the baryon density) and by chemical-diffusive instability (fluctuations on the isospin concentration) in asymmetric nuclear matter. Similarly to the liquid-gas phase transition, the nucleonic and the Δ-matter phase have a different isospin density in the mixed phase. In the liquid-gas phase transition, the process of producing a larger neutron excess in the gas phase is referred to as isospin fractionation. A similar effects can occur in the nucleon-Δ matter phase transition due essentially to a Δ− excess in the Δ-matter phase in asymmetric nuclear matter. In this context, we study the hadronic equation of state by means of an effective quantum relativistic mean field model with the inclusion of the full octet of baryons, the Δ-isobar degrees of freedom, and the lightest pseudoscalar and vector mesons. Finally, we will investigate the presence of thermodynamic instabilities in a hot and dense nuclear medium where phases with different values of antibaryon-baryon ratios and strangeness content may coexist. Such a physical regime could be in principle investigated in the future high-energy compressed nuclear matter experiments where will make it possible to create compressed baryonic matter with a high net baryon density.

Phase transition of the baryon-antibaryon plasma in hot and dense nuclear matter

We investigate the presence of thermodynamic instabilities in a hot and dense nuclear medium where a phase transition from a gas of massive hadrons to a nearly massless baryon, antibaryon plasma can take place. The analysis is performed by requiring the global conservation of baryon number and zero net strangeness in the framework of an effective relativistic mean field theory with the inclusion of the Δ(1232)-isobars, hyperons and the lightest pseudoscalar and vector meson degrees of freedom. Similarly to the low density nuclear liquid-gas phase transition, we show that such a phase transition is characterized by both mechanical instability (fluctuations on the baryon density) that by chemical- diffusive instability (fluctuations on the strangeness concentration). It turns out that, in this situation, phases with different values of antibaryon-baryon ratios and strangeness content may coexist.

Hadron yield ratios in an effective relativistic equation of state

We investigate an effective relativistic equation of state at finite values of tem- perature and baryon chemical potential with the inclusion of the full octet of baryons, the Delta-isobars and the lightest pseudoscalar and vector meson degrees of freedom. These last particles have been introduced within a phenomenological approach by taking into account of an effective chemical potential and mass depending on the self-consistent interaction between baryons. In this framework, we study of the hadron yield ratios mea- sured in central heavy ion collisions over a broad energy range. It is well known that mesons play a crucial role in the hadronic Equation of State (EOS) especially in the regime of low baryon density and high temperature. Such particles are strongly interacting in the environment with the other particles. In this contribution, we are going to study an effective relativistic mean field model with the inclusion of the full octet of baryons, the Δ-isobars and the lightest pseudoscalar and vector mesons, by requiring the global conservation of baryon number, electric charge fraction and zero net strangeness. The meson degrees of freedom are incorporated in the EOS as a quasi-particle Bose gas with an effective meson chemical potential μ ∗ and an effective mass m ∗ expressed in terms of the σ, ω, ρ meson fields, responsible for the self-consistent mean field interaction (1). In this framework the hadron yield ratios have been studied and compared with the experimental ratios measured in central heavy ion collisions from AGS to RHIC energy range.

Hadronic freeze-out in an effective relativistic mean field model

We investigate an effective relativistic equation of state at finite values of temperature and baryon chemical potential with the inclusion of the full octet of baryons, the Delta-isobars and the lightest pseudoscalar and vector meson degrees of freedom. These last particles have been introduced within a phenomenological approach by taking into account of an effective chemical potential and mass depending on the self-consistent interaction between baryons. In this framework, we study of the hadron yield ratios measured in central heavy ion collisions over a broad energy range and present the beam energy dependence of underlying dynamic quantities like the net baryon density and the energy density.

STRANGENESS PRODUCTION AT FINITE TEMPERATURE AND BARYON DENSITY IN AN EFFECTIVE RELATIVISTIC MEAN FIELD MODEL

We study the strangeness production in hot and dense nuclear medium, by requiring the conservation of the baryon density, electric charge fraction and zero net strangeness. The hadronic equation of state is investigated by means of an effective relativistic mean field model, with the inclusion of the full octet of baryons and kaon mesons. Kaons are considered taking into account of an effective chemical potential depending on the self-consistent interaction between baryons. The obtained results are compared with a minimal coupling scheme, calculated for different values of the anti-kaon optical potential and with noninteracting kaon particles. In this context, we also consider the possible onset of the kaon condensation for a wide range of temperatures and baryon densities.

Kaon and strangeness production in an effective relativistic mean field model

We investigate the strangeness production at finite temperature and baryon density by means of an effective relativistic mean-field model with the inclusion of the full octet of baryons and kaon mesons. Kaons are considered taking into account of an effective chemical potential depending on the self-consistent interaction between baryons. In this context, we study the influence of the kaon-nucleon interaction in the determination of the kaon to anti-kaon ratio and in the strangeness production. The results are then compared with a minimal coupling scheme, calculated for different values of the anti-kaon optical potential.

Kaon production at finite temperature and baryon density in an effective relativistic mean field model

We investigate the kaon production at finite temperature and baryon density by means of an effective relativistic mean-field model with the inclusion of the full octet of baryons. Kaons are considered taking into account of an effective chemical potential depending on the self-consistent interaction between baryons. The obtained results are compared with a minimal coupling scheme, calculated for different values of the anti-kaon optical potential.