Effects of the density dependence of the symmetry energy on neutron stars

In this paper,we include the density dependence behavior of the symmetry energy in the improved quark mass density dependent (IQMDD) model.Under the mean field approximation,this model is applied to investigate neutron star matter and neutron stars successfully.Effects of the density dependence of the symmetry energy on neutron stars are described.     

利用非对称核物质状态方程对中子星的质量和半径的研究

在温度、密度及同位旋相关的核物质状态方程的基础上,通过求解Tol-man-Oppenheimer?Volkoff方程得到了中子星的质量与中心密度的关系,发现随着中心密度的变化,中子星存在一个最大质量.同时计算结果表明,中子星的最大质量与核物质状态方程的不可压缩系数、有效质量及对称能强度系数等密切相关.对中子星半径的研究表明,较硬的核物质状态方程给出的中子星半径较大,而且较大的对称能强度系数和较大的核子有效质量也会给出较大的中子星半径.     

Hypernuclear physics for neutron stars

The role of hypernuclear physics for the physics of neutron stars is delineated. Hypernuclear potentials in dense matter control the hyperon composition of dense neutron star matter. The three-body interactions of nucleons and hyperons determine the stiffness of the neutron star equation of state and thereby the maximum neutron star mass. Two-body hyperon–nucleon and hyperon–hyperon interactions give rise to hyperon pairing which exponentially suppresses cooling of neutron stars via the direct hyperon URCA processes. Nonmesonic weak reactions with hyperons in dense neutron star matter govern the gravitational wave emissions due to the r-mode instability of rotating neutron stars.     

Observations of neutron stars and the equation of state of matter at high densities

We summarize the constraints on the equation of state of high-density nuclear matter derived from neutron star observations. The most stringent constraints are provided by the largest mass, the largest radius, the highest rotational frequency, and the maximum surface gravity observed for neutron stars. The combination of these constraints allows only nuclear equations of state which are quite stiff.     

Bose-Einstein condensation of anti-kaons and neutron star twins

We investigate the role of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of anti-kaons on the equation of state (EoS) and other properties of compact stars. In the framework of relativistic mean field model we determine the EoS for β-stable hyperon matter and compare it to the situation when anti-kaons condense in the system. We observe that anti-kaon condensates soften the EoS, thereby lowering the maximum mass of the stars. We also demonstrate that the presence of antikaon condensates in the high density core of compact stars may lead to a new mass sequence beyond white dwarf and neutron stars. The limiting mass of the new sequence stars is nearly equal to that of neutron star branch though they have distinctly different radii and compositions. They are called neutron star twins.     

Role of hyperons and pions in neutron stars and supernova

Neutron stars are studied in the framework of nuclear relativistic field theory. Hyperons and pions significantly soften the equation of state of neutron star matter at moderate and high density. We conjecture that they are responsible for the softening that is found to be crucial to the bounce scenario in supernova calculations. Hyperons reduce the limiting mass of neutron stars predicted by theory by one half solar mass or more, which is a large effect compared to the range in which theories of matter predict this limit to fall.     

Pesponse of the Neutron Star Properties to the Equation of State at Low Density

Using the RMF theory to describe the neutron liquid region in the neutron star and the Fermi gas model or FMT, BPS,and BBP model to describe the crust of the neutron star (referred as Fermi gas+RMF and RMF* respectively),the properties of the neutron star are calculated and compared with those from the RMF theory. Although the EOS at low density has negligible influence on the maximum mass of the neutron star, and its corresponding central density, energy density, and pressure, it changes the mass-radius relationship of neutron stars considerably. The differences of the neutron star radius corresponding to maximum mass between the RMF theory and RMF* calculations are 0.23-0.33 km.     

Spin polarised nuclear matter and its application to neutron stars

An equation of state (EOS) of nuclear matter with explicit inclusion of a spin-isospin dependent force is constructed from a finite range, momentum and density dependent effective interaction. This EOS is found to be in good agreement with those obtained from more sophisticated models for unpolarised nuclear matter. Introducing spin degrees of freedom, it is found that it is possible for neutron matter to undergo a ferromagnetic transition at densities realisable in the core of neutron stars. The maximum mass and the surface magnetic field of the neutron star can be fairly explained in this model. Since finding quark matter rather than hadronic matter at the core of neutron stars is a possibility, the proposed EOS is also applied to the study of hybrid stars. It is found using the bag model picture that one can in principle describe both the mass as well as the surface magnetic field of hybrid stars satisfactorily.     

Phase transition to color-flavor-locked matter and condensation of Goldstone bosons in neutron star matter

Deconfinement phase transition and condensation of Goldstone bosons in neutron star matter are investigated in a chiral hadronic model (also referred as to the FST model) for the hadronic phase (HP) and in the color-flavor-locked (CFL) quark model for the deconfined quark phase. It is shown that the hadronic-CFL mixed phase (MP) exists in the center of neutron stars with a small bag constant, while the CFL quark matter cannot appear in neutron stars when a large bag constant is taken. Color superconductivity softens the equation of state (EOS) and decreases the maximum mass of neutron stars compared with the unpaired quark matter. The K⁰ condensation in the CFL phase has no remarkable contribution to the EOS and properties of neutron star matter. The EOS and the properties of neutron star matter are sensitive to the bag constant B, the strange quark mass m_s and the color superconducting gap Δ. Increasing B and m_s or decreasing Δ can stiffen the EOS which results in the larger maximum masses of neutron stars.     

Constraints on the symmetry energy using the mass-radius relation of neutron stars

The nuclear symmetry energy is intimately connected with nuclear astrophysics. This contribution focuses on the estimation of the symmetry energy from experiment and how it is related to the structure of neutron stars. The most important connection is between the radii of neutron stars and the pressure of neutron star matter in the vicinity of the nuclear saturation density n_s. This pressure is essentially controlled by the nuclear symmetry energy parameters S_v and L , the first two coefficients of a Taylor expansion of the symmetry energy around n_s. We discuss constraints on these parameters that can be found from nuclear experiments. We demonstrate that these constraints are largely model-independent by deriving them qualitatively from a simple nuclear model. We also summarize how recent theoretical studies of pure neutron matter can reinforce these constraints. To date, several different astrophysical measurements of neutron star radii have been attempted. Attention is focused on photospheric radius expansion bursts and on thermal emissions from quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries. While none of these observations can, at the present time, determine individual neutron star radii to better than 20% accuracy, the body of observations can be used with Bayesian techniques to effectively constrain them to higher precision. These techniques invert the structure equations and obtain estimates of the pressure-density relation of neutron star matter, not only near n_s, but up to the highest densities found in neutron star interiors. The estimates we derive for neutron star radii are in concordance with predictions from nuclear experiment and theory.     

中子星物质中的K介子凝聚与三体核力效应

利用Brueckner-Hartree-Fock方法，计算了β稳定中子星物质的状态方程以及三体核力的影响，特别是研究了三体核力对中子星物质中K介子凝聚的影响. 结果表明三体核力对β稳定中子星物质中出现K介子凝聚的临界密度以及中子星物质中各种粒子所占的比例均有重要影响. 三体核力的主要作用是降低了中子星物质中出现K介子凝聚的临界密度并使K凝聚相中的核物质更加接近于对称核物质.     

R-mode Instability of Neutron Star with Non-Newtonian Gravity

The Chandrasekhar-Friedmann-Schutz(CFS) instabilities of r-modes for canonical neutron stars(1.4 M ⊙) with rigid crusts are investigated by using an equation of state of asymmetric nuclear matter with super-soft symmetry energy,where the non-Newtonian gravity proposed in the grand unification theories is also considered.Constrained by the observations of the masses and the spin frequencies for neutron stars,the boundary of the r-mode instability window for a canonical neutron star is obtained,and the results show that the observed neutron stars are all outside the instability window,which is consistent with the theoretical expectation.In addition,an upper limit of the non-Newtonian gravity parameters is also given.     

The Properties of Pure Neutron Star

For a given equation of state of neutron matter in the relativistic σ-ω model, ๏๏๏๏๏ including the vacuum fluctuation of neutron and σ meson, the properties of pure neutron star are studied. We find that the maximum mass of pure neutron star is ～ 2.0 M_{\odot}. At the same time, the influence of incompressibility of the nuclear matter to the properties of neutron star is also studied. We also find that the maximum mass of neutron stars decreases as equation of state of neutron matter becomes softer.     

磁荷对中子星质量半径比的约束

讨论了荷电(磁)质点的量子力学波方程及其解. 由磁场中解的奇异性讨论了磁单极的存在; 由Rubakov-Callan模型推知中子星可能含有大量磁单极. 然后采用中子星的结构方程, 讨论了磁荷对中子星质量半径比的约束, 分别得到了磁荷对中子星质量半径比上限的影响 和磁荷对中子星质量半径比下限的影响的数学表达式. 关键词： 磁单极 中子星 质量半径比     

中子星内部强子-夸克相变的有限尺度效应研究

在致密星体内部极高密度条件下,强子物质可能发生退禁闭相变成为夸克物质,即强子-夸克相变。这种相变过程对于中子星的性质有着重要影响。考虑库仑能和表面能的影响,即有限尺度效应,相变过程中的混杂相包含了被称为pasta相的几何结构。强子-夸克共存相的平衡条件是通过求总能量的最小值得到的。采用相对论平均场（RMF）模型来描述强子物质相,采用Nambu-Jona-Lasinio（NJL）模型来描述夸克物质相。有限尺度效应一定程度上增加了中子星的最大质量,增加幅度取决于强子-夸克表面张力的大小。有限尺度效应能够降低混杂相的范围,其结果介于Gibbs结构和Maxwell结构的结果之间。研究结果表明,中子星中可能包含一个混杂相的核心部分,其大小受到表面张力等参数的影响。It is generally considered that hadron matter may undergo a deconfinement phase transition becoming quark matter at very high density in massive neutron stars. This hadron-quark phase transition has important impact on neutron stars, which has received much attention. We consider finite-size effect in this phase transition process, which contains the impact of Coulomb energy and surface energy. By including this effect, the mixed phase forms the pasta structures. The equilibrium conditions for coexisting hadronic and quark phases are derived by minimizing the total energy including the surface and Coulomb contributions. We employ the relativistic mean-field(RMF) model to describe the hadronic phase, while the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio(NJL) model is used for the quark phase. We conclude that the finite-size effect will raise the stiffness of EOS, and then increase the maximum mass of neutron stars, which depend on the value of surface tension. Our results show that finite-size effects can significantly reduce the region of the mixed phase, and the results lie between those from the Gibbs and Maxwell constructions. We show that a massive star may contain a mixed phase core and its size depends on the surface tension of the hadron-quark interface.     

Maximum stellar iron core mass

An analytical method of estimating the mass of a stellar iron core, just prior to core collapse, is described in this paper. The method employed depends, in part, upon an estimate of the true relativistic mass increase experienced by electrons within a highly compressed iron core, just prior to core collapse, and is significantly different from a more typical Chandrasekhar mass limit approach. This technique produced a maximum stellar iron core mass value of 269 × 10³⁰ kg (1.35 solar masses). This mass value is very near to the typical mass values found for neutron stars in a recent survey of actual neutron star masses. Although slightly lower and higher neutron star masses may also be found, lower mass neutron stars are believed to be formed as a result of enhanced iron core compression due to the weight of non-ferrous matter overlying the iron cores within large stars. And, higher mass neutron stars are likely to be formed as a result of fallback or accretion of additional matter after an initial collapse event involving an iron core having a mass no greater than 2.69 × 10³⁰ kg     

Hadron masses in medium and neutron star properties

We investigate the properties of the neutron star with relativistic mean-field models. We incorporate in the quantum hadrodynamics and in the quark-meson coupling models a possible reduction of meson masses in nuclear matter. The equation of state for neutron star matter is obtained and is employed in Oppenheimer-Volkov equation to extract the maximum mass of the stable neutron star. We find that the equation of state, the composition and the properties of the neutron stars are sensitive to the values of the meson masses in medium.     

Slowly rotating neutron stars and hadronic stars in the chiral SU(3) quark mean-field model

The equations of state for neutron matter, strange and non-strange hadronic matter in the chiral SU(3) quark mean-field model are applied in the study of slowly rotating neutron stars and hadronic stars. The radius, mass, moment of inertia, and other physical quantities are carefully examined. The effect of the nucleon crust for the strange hadronic star is exhibited. Our results show that the rotation can increase the maximum mass of compact stars significantly. For a big enough mass of pulsars which cannot be explained as strange hadronic stars, theoretical approaches to increase the maximum mass are addressed.     

Hybrid stars

Recently there have been important developments in the determination of neutron star masses which put severe constraints on the composition and equation of state (EOS) of the neutron star matter. Here we study the effect of quark and nuclear matter mixed phase on mass radius relationship of neutron stars employing recent models from two classes of EOS’s and discuss their implications.     

Neutron stars

Neutron stars are laboratories for dense matter and gravitational physics. Observations of neutron stars from sources such as radio pulsars, low-mass X-ray binaries, X-ray bursts and thermally-emitting neutron stars are setting bounds to neutron star masses, radii, rotation rates, temperatures and ages. Mass measurements constrain the equation of state at the highest densities and set firm bounds to the highest possible density of cold matter. Radii constrain the equation of state in the vicinity of the nuclear saturation density and yield information about the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy. Laboratory measurements and theoretical studies of pure neutron matter are in remarkable agreement with observational bounds.