Stellar matter in supernova explosions and nuclear multifragmentation

During the collapse of massive stars and type-II supernova explosions, stellar matter reaches densities and temperatures which are similar to ones obtained in intermediate-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. The nuclear multifragmentation reactions can be used for determination of properties of nuclear matter at subnuclear densities, in the region of the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition. It is demonstrated that the modified properties of hot nuclei (in particular, their symmetry energy) extracted from the multifragmentation data can essentially influence the nuclear composition of stellar matter. The effects of the modification of nuclear properties on weak processes and on nucleosynthesis are also discussed. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Temperature Effects on the Equation of State and Symmetry Energy at Low and High Densities

Thermal properties of symmetric nuclear matter and pure neutron matter are studied in a selfconsistent Green’s function and Brueckner–Hartree–Fock approaches with the inclusion of the contact interaction using CDBONN potential. Also we investigate the temperature dependence of the symmetry energy. The symmetry energy at fixed density is found to generally decrease with temperature. The temperature effects on the nuclear matter symmetry energy are found to be stronger at lower densities while become much weaker at higher densities. The results of several microscopic approaches are compared. Also the results are compared with recent experimental data. There is good agreement between the experimental symmetry energy and those calculated in the Brueckner–Hartree–Fock approach.     

利用椭圆流和轻带电粒子产额比探测对称能（英文）

基于最近更新的极端相对论量子分子动力学模型,研究了197Au+197Au产生的中子和氢同位素的横动量依赖的椭圆流和轻带电粒子的产额比。发现中子和氢同位素的椭圆流之比vn H2/v2敏感于对称能的高密行为,而3H和3He的产额比敏感于对称能的低密行为。通过比较FOPI/LAND和FOPI合作组的最新实验数据与模型模拟的结果,发现接近线性对称能的Skyrme参数给出的结果能与这两个实验值都符合。     

Clusterized nuclear matter in the (proto-)neutron star crust and the symmetry energy

Though generally agreed that the symmetry energy plays a dramatic role in determining the structure of neutron stars and the evolution of core-collapsing supernovae, little is known in what concerns its value away from normal nuclear matter density and, even more important, the correct definition of this quantity in the case of unhomogeneous matter. Indeed, nuclear matter traditionally addressed by mean-field models is uniform while clusters are known to exist in the dilute baryonic matter which constitutes the main component of compact objects outer shells. In the present work we investigate the meaning of symmetry energy in the case of clusterized systems and the sensitivity of the proto-neutron star composition and equation of state to the effective interaction. To this aim an improved Nuclear Statistical Equilibrium (NSE) model is developed, where the same effective interaction is consistently used to determine the clusters and unbound particles energy functionals in the self-consistent mean-field approximation. In the same framework, in-medium modifications to the cluster energies due to the presence of the nuclear gas are evaluated. We show that the excluded volume effect does not exhaust the in-medium effects and an extra isospin and density-dependent energy shift has to be considered to consistently determine the composition of subsaturation stellar matter. The symmetry energy of diluted matter is seen to depend on the isovector properties of the effective interaction, but its behavior with density and its quantitative value are strongly modified by clusterization.     

Electroweak measurements of neutron densities in CREX and PREX at JLab,USA

We analyze microscopic many-body calculations of the nuclear symmetry energy and its density dependence. The calculations are performed in the framework of the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock and the self-consistent Green’s functions methods. Within Brueckner-Hartree-Fock, the Hellmann-Feynman theorem gives access to the kinetic energy contribution as well as the contributions of the different components of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. The tensor component gives the largest contribution to the symmetry energy. The decomposition of the symmetry energy in a kinetic part and a potential energy part provides physical insight on the correlated nature of the system, indicating that neutron matter is less correlated than symmetric nuclear matter. Within the self-consistent Green’s function approach, we compute the momentum distributions and we identify the effects of the high momentum components in the symmetry energy. The results are obtained for the realistic interaction Argonne V18 potential, supplemented by the Urbana IX three-body force in the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock calculations.     

Quark matter formation in dense stellar objects

It is expected that at very large densities and/or temperatures a quark-hadron phase transition takes place. Lattice QCD calculations at zero baryon density indicate that the transition occurs at T _c ∼ 150–170 MeV. The transition is likely to be second order or a cross over phenomenon. Although not much is known about the density at which the phase transition takes place at small temperatures, it is expected to occur around the nuclear densities of few times nuclear matter density. Also, there is a strong reason to believe that the quark matter formed after the phase transition is in colour superconducting phase. The matter densities in the interior of neutron stars being larger than the nuclear matter density, the neutron star cores may possibly consist of quark matter which may be formed during the collapse of supernova. Starting with the assumption that the quark matter, when formed consists of predominantly u and d quarks, we consider the evolution of s quarks by weak interactions in the present work. The reaction rates and time required to reach the chemical equilibrium are computed here. Our calculations show that the chemical equilibrium is reached in about 10⁻⁷ seconds. Further more during the equilibration process enormous amont of energy is released and copious numbers of neutrinos are produced. Implications of these on the evolution of supernovae will be discussed.     

Effects of the symmetry energy slope on the axial oscillations of neutron stars

The impact of symmetry energy slope L on the axial w-mode oscillations is explored, where the range of the con- strained slope L of symmetry energy at saturation density is adopted from 25 MeV to 115 MeV while keeping the equation of state （EOS） of symmetric nuclear matter fixed. Based on the range of the symmetry energy slope, a constraint on the frequency and damping time of the wi-mode of the neutron star is given. It is found that there is a perfect linear relation between the frequency and the stellar mass for a fixed slope L, and the softer symmetry energy corresponds to a higher frequency. Moreover, it is confirmed that both the frequencies and damping times have a perfect universal scaling behavior for the EOSs with different symmetry energy slopes at saturation density.     

核物质和夸克物质的对称能（英文）

对称能表征了同位旋非对称强相互作用物质状态方程的同位旋相关部分,它对于理解核物理和天体物理中的许多问题有重要意义。简要总结了关于核物质和夸克物质对称能研究的最新进展。对于核物质对称能,通过对核结构,核反应以及中子星的研究,目前对其亚饱和密度的行为已有比较清楚的认识,同时,对饱和密度附近对称能的约束也取得了很好的研究进展。但如何确定核物质对称能的高密行为仍然是一个挑战。另一方面,在极端高重子数密度条件下,强相互作用物质将以退禁闭的夸克物质状态存在。同位旋非对称夸克物质可能存在于致密星内部,也可能产生于极端相对论重离子碰撞中。对最近关于夸克物质对称能对夸克星性质的影响以及重夸克星的存在对夸克物质对称能的约束的研究工作进行了介绍,结果表明同位旋非对称夸克物质中上夸克和下夸克可能感受到很不一样的相互作用,这对于研究极端相对论重离子碰撞中部分子动力学的同位旋效应有重要启发。The symmetry energy characterizes the isospin dependent part of the equation of state of isospin asymmetric strong interaction matter and it plays a critical role in many issues of nuclear physics and astrophysics. In this talk, we briefly review the current status on the determination of the symmetry energy in nucleon (nuclear) and quark matter. For nuclear matter, while the subsaturation density behaviors of the symmetry energy are relatively well-determined and significant progress has been made on the symmetry energy around saturation density, the determination of the suprasaturation density behaviors of the symmetry energy remains a big challenge. For quark matter, which is expected to appear in dense matter at high baryon densities, we briefly review the recent work about the effects of quark matter symmetry energy on the properties of quark stars and the constraint of possible existence of heavy quark stars on quark matter symmetry energy. The results indicate that the u and d quarks could feel very different interactions in isospin asymmetric quark matter, which may have important implications on the isospin effects of partonic dynamics in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.     

Properties of nuclear pastas

In this review we study the nuclear pastas as they are expected to be formed in neutron star crusts. We start with a study of the pastas formed in nuclear matter (composed of protons and neutrons), we follow with the role of the electron gas on the formation of pastas, and we then investigate the pastas in neutron star matter (nuclear matter embedded in an electron gas).Nuclear matter (NM) at intermediate temperatures (1 MeV ≲ T ≲ 15 MeV), at saturation and sub-saturation densities, and with proton content ranging from 30% to 50% was found to have liquid, gaseous and liquid–gas mixed phases. The isospin-dependent phase diagram was obtained along with the critical points, and the symmetry energy was calculated and compared to experimental data and other theories. At low temperatures (T ≲ 1 MeV) NM produces crystal-like structures around saturation densities, and pasta-like structures at sub-saturation densities. Properties of the pasta structures were studied with cluster-recognition algorithms, caloric curve, the radial distribution function, the Lindemann coefficient, Kolmogorov statistics, Minkowski functionals; the symmetry energy of the pasta showed a connection with its morphology.Neutron star matter (NSM) is nuclear matter embedded in an electron gas. The electron gas is included in the calculation by the inclusion of an screened Coulomb potential. To connect the NM pastas with those in neutron star matter (NSM), the role the strength and screening length of the Coulomb interaction have on the formation of the pastas in NM was investigated. Pasta was found to exist even without the presence of the electron gas, but the effect of the Coulomb interaction is to form more defined pasta structures, among other effects. Likewise, it was determined that there is a minimal screening length for the developed structures to be independent of the cell size.Neutron star matter was found to have similar phases as NM, phase transitions, symmetry energy, structure function and thermal conductivity. Like in NM, pasta forms at around T ≈ 1.5 MeV, and liquid-to-solid phase changes were detected at T ≈ 0.5 MeV. The structure function and the symmetry energy were also found to depend on the pasta structures.     

Nuclear matter and neutron star properties with the extendedNambu-Jona-Lasinio model

An extended Nambu-Jona-Lasinio(eNJL) model with nucleons as the degrees of freedom is used to investigate properties of nuclear matter and neutron stars(NSs),including the binding energy and symmetry energy of the nuclear matter, the core-crust transition density, and mass-radius relation of NSs. The fourth-order symmetry energy at saturation density is also investigated. When the bulk properties of nuclear matter at saturation density are used to determine the model parameters, the double solutions of parameters are obtained for a given nuclear incompressibility. It is shown that the isovector-vector interaction has a significant influence on the nuclear matter and NS properties, and the sign of isovector-vector coupling constant is critical in the determination of the trend of the symmetry energy and equation of state. The effects of the other model parameters and symmetry energy slope at saturation density are discussed.     

A simplified equation of state near nuclear density

The equation of state near nuclear density influences shock formation in stellar collapse Supernovae. The drop in the adiabatic index below $\text{4}\text{3}$ in this region, due to the negative nuclear pressure, disturbs the homology of the inner core and decreases its size. The initial shock energy and formation dynamics are particularly sensitive to matter in this regime.Only matter at low entropies (S ? 1.5) in the unshocked inner core approaches nuclear densities. We derive a simple equation of state for this material and find that nuclear properties are close to those at S = 0. The entropy associated with the nuclear surface can be absorbed into an “effective mass” which decreases towards one with increasing density, giving an accurate accounting for the storage of entropy in the excitation of the large nuclei. Such thermal excitation drains energy with little contribution to the pressure and thus may have important effects on the launching of the shock.Two phase transitions are considered. The first, from the heavy nucleus to the “bubble” phase, occurs at half nuclear matter density and is accomplished by use of simple expressions for the energy and pressure that include effects of the transition implicitly. The second, that to uniform nuclear matter, is done by requiring continuity of the pressure and entropy at the transition. The density at which this transition takes place is calculated and is found to decrease with entropy in a simple manner.With the use of suitable approximations, the equation of state is presented in a non-iterative form easily adapted for use in full hydrodynamical calculations of the supernovae process. Comparison with more detailed equations of state is made and the simplified one is found to represent well all important features.     

Symmetry energy,unstable nuclei and neutron star crusts

We present an upgraded review of our microscopic investigation on the single-particle properties and the EOS of isospin asymmetric nuclear matter within the framework of the Brueckner theory extended to include a microscopic three-body force. We pay special attention to the discussion of the three-body force effect and the comparison of our results with the predictions by other ab initio approaches. Three-body force is shown to be necessary for reproducing the empirical saturation properties of symmetric nuclear matter within nonrelativistic microscopic frameworks, and also for extending the hole-line expansion to a wide density range. The three-body force effect on nuclear symmetry energy is repulsive, and it leads to a significant stiffening of the density dependence of symmetry energy at supra-saturation densities. Within the Brueckner approach, the three-body force affects the nucleon s.p. potentials primarily via its rearrangement contribution which is strongly repulsive and momentum-dependent at high densities and high momenta. Both the rearrangement contribution induced by the three-body force and the effect of ground-state correlations are crucial for predicting reliably the single-particle properties within the Brueckner framework.     

High density behaviour of nuclear symmetry energy

There exists profound discrepancy in the high density behaviour of the nuclear symmetry energy obtained in realistic variational many-body (VMB) calculations and in relativistic mean-field (RMF) calculations. While the symmetry energy decreases to negative values in the former approach it increases monotonically in the latter one. The origin of this discrepancy is discussed and it is argued that VMB prediction is more reliable. It is shown that vanishing of the symmetry energy implies proton-neutron separation instability in dense matter.This work was partially supported by KBN grants 2 0204 91 01 and 2 0054 91 01.     

Particle hole state densities

The influence of correlations on the critical temperature and density for the onset of superfluidity in nuclear matter is investigated within the scheme of Nozières and Schmitt-Rink [1]. For symmetric nuclear matter a smooth transition from Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of deuteronlike bound states at low densities and low temperatures to Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) pairing at higher densities is described. Compared with the mean field approach a lowering of the critical temperature is obtained for symmetric nuclear matter as well as for pure neutron matter. The Mott transition in symmetric nuclear matter is discussed. Regions in the temperature-density plane are identified where correlated pairs give the main contribution to the composition of the system, so that approximations beyond the quasi-particle picture are requested.     

重离子碰撞中同位旋自由度输运和对称能约束

重离子核反应是地面实验室研究核物质状态方程的有效手段。当核物质体系 (包括原子核) 中的中子和质子数目差异很大时,核物质状态方程中除了对称核物质贡献之外,对称能项的贡献逐渐变得重要。它反映了核子相互作用势的同位旋矢量部分,与致密星体的性质和恒星核合成等天体物理基本问题,以及远离β稳定线原子核的奇异性质与核素图边界等核物理前沿问题,都紧密相关。然而,迄今为止,对称能对密度的依赖行为尚未很精确地约束。因此,对称能的研究成为当前国际上主要的中能核物理实验室和天体观测装置的主要物理目标之一。本文简单评述了这一领域的实验进展,并介绍了基于国内的大科学装置,即兰州重离子研究装置(HIRFL)开展费米能区重离子反应与对称能实验研究的一些进展。实验结果表明,这一能区的同位旋自由度输运时标和具体的物理过程相关,同位旋漂移效应可能持续到反应晚期。由于同位旋效应的长时间积累,轻粒子同位旋的角度分布可以用来约束对称能的密度依赖,在饱和点附近对称能值为$ S\!=\!28.3 $ MeV的条件下,其斜率参数约束在$L\!=\!33\!\sim\! 61\,\mathrm{M}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}$的区间,置信度水平为95%。借助一套具有裂变碎片和带电粒子符合测量能力的高性能重离子反应测量谱仪,可以测量具有同位素分辨的带电粒子小角关联函数,从而给出费米能区重离子反应中同位旋驰豫的时标。最后,介绍了氘核的同位旋矢量极化效应,该效应可能提供一种全新的约束对称能密度依赖的途径。     

基于有限核性质确定核物质对称能的密度依赖性

密度依赖的对称能作为核物质状态方程的同位旋相关部分,是当前核物理和天体物理两个领域共同关注的重要热点问题之一。人们在实验和理论两方面对此进行了大量的探索,然而由于问题的困难性,对其研究尚未达成共识。目前,研究对称能的方法有很多,其中包括微观和唯像核多体理论、重离子碰撞、原子核的巨共振等。近年来,低密对称能的研究已经取得了重要进展。本文综述了利用有限核的信息来约束核物质对称能的密度依赖性方面的研究工作,这一研究途径尽可能地降低了理论分析的模型依赖性。研究表明,208Pb对称能(系数)asym(A)等于参考密度ρA=0.55ρ0处的核物质对称能(系数)。这个关系将有限核与核物质的对称能联系了起来,借此可以探究亚饱和密度核物质对称能的密度依赖性,因此核心目标是准确确定208Pb对称能(系数)。我们通过重核β-衰变能和质量差来提取208Pb对称能(系数),进而约束亚饱和密度下核物质对称能的密度依赖行为。     

Density content of nuclear symmetry energy from nuclear observables

The nuclear symmetry energy at a given density measures the energy transferred in converting symmetric nuclear matter into the pure neutron matter. The density content of nuclear symmetry energy remains poorly constrained. Our recent results for the density content of the nuclear symmetry energy, around the saturation density, extracted using experimental data for accurately known nuclear masses, giant resonances and neutron-skin thickness in heavy nuclei are summarized.     

Nuclear symmetry energy in terms of single-nucleon potential and its effect on the proton fraction of <Emphasis Type="Italic">β</Emphasis>-stable <Emphasis Type="Italic">npeμ</Emphasis> matter

Momentum and density dependence of single-nucleon potential u_τ (k, ρ, β) is analyzed using a density dependent finite range effective interaction of the Yukawa form. Depending on the choice of the strength parameters of exchange interaction, two different trends of the momentum dependence of nuclear symmetry potential are noticed which lead to two opposite types of neutron and proton effective mass splitting. The 2nd-order and 4th-order symmetry energy of isospin asymmetric nuclear matter are expressed analytically in terms of the single-nucleon potential. Two distinct behavior of the density dependence of 2nd-order and 4th-order symmetry energy are observed depending on neutron and proton effective mass splitting. It is also found that the 4th-order symmetry energy has a significant contribution towards the proton fraction of β-stable npeμ matter at high densities.