401 research outputs found
Superfluid vortices in neutron stars
A microscopic, quantum mechanical model for neutron vortices in the crust of
a neutron star is presented. After a brief introduction to the Bogoliubov- de
Gennes equations, which form the basis for our calculations, we present results
for density distributions, vortex core sizes and vortex energies, both for an
isolated neutron vortex and for the case when the vortex core overlaps with a
cylindrical nucleus. Earlier results on the vortex core size are confirmed,
indicating a much less dramatic variation of the vortex core size with density
than predicted by the BCS formula.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures. To appear in Astronomy & Astrophysic
Modern meson--exchange potential and superfluid neutron star crust matter
In this work we study properties of neutron star crusts, where matter is
expected to consist of nuclei surrounded by superfluid neutrons and a
homogeneous background of relativistic electrons. The nuclei are disposed in a
Coulomb lattice, and it is believed that the structure of the lattice
influences considerably the specific heat of the neutronic matter inside the
crust of a neutron star. Using a modern meson--exchange potential in the
framework of a local--density approximation we calculate the neutronic specific
heat accounting for various shapes of the Coulomb lattice, from spherical to
non--spherical nuclear shapes. We find that a realistic nucleon--nucleon
potential leads to a significant increase in the neutronic specific heat with
respect to that obtained assuming a uniform neutron distribution. The increase
is largest for the non--spherical phase of the crust. These results may have
consequences for the thermal history of young neutron stars.Comment: Revtex, 5 pages, 4 figures included as uuencoded p
Microscopic structure of a vortex line in superfluid neutron star matter
The microscopic structure of an isolated vortex line in superfluid neutron
star matter is studied by solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. Our
calculation, which is the starting point for a microscopic calculation of
pinning forces in neutron stars, shows that the size of the vortex core varies
differently with density, and is in general smaller than assumed in some
earlier calculations of vortex pinning in neutron star crusts. The implications
of this result are discussedComment: 5 pages, 2 figure
R-modes in Neutron Stars with Crusts: Turbulent Saturation, Spin-down, and Crust Melting
Rossby waves (r-modes) have been suggested as a means to regulate the spin
periods of young or accreting neutron stars, and also to produce observable
gravitational wave radiation. R-modes involve primarily transverse,
incompressive motions of the star's fluid core. However, neutron stars gain
crusts early in their lives: therefore, r-modes also imply shear in the fluid
beneath the crust. We examine the criterion for this shear layer to become
turbulent, and derive the rate of dissipation in the turbulent regime. Unlike
dissipation from a viscous boundary layer, turbulent energy loss is nonlinear
in mode energy and can therefore cause the mode to saturate at amplitudes
typically much less than unity. This energy loss also reappears as heat below
the crust. We study the possibility of crust melting as well as its
implications for the spin evolution of low-mass X-ray binaries. Lastly, we
identify some universal features of the spin evolution that may have
observational consequences.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Ap
Semiclassical Approximation to Neutron Star Superfluidity Corrected for Proximity Effects
The inner crust of a neutron star is a superfluid and inhomogeneous system,
consisting of a lattice of nuclei immersed in a sea of neutrons. We perform a
quantum calculation of the associated pairing gap and compare it to the results
one obtains in the Local Density Approximation (LDA). It is found that the LDA
overestimates the spatial dependence of the gap, and leads to a specific heat
of the system which is too large at low temperatures, as compared with the
quantal result. This is caused by the neglect of proximity effects and the
delocalized character of the single-particle wavefunctions close to the Fermi
energy. It is possible to introduce an alternative, simple semiclassical
approximation of the pairing gap which leads to a specific heat that is in good
agreement with the quantum calculation.Comment: RevteX, 8 Postscript Figure
One-body dissipation and chaotic dynamics in a classical simulation of a nuclear gas
In order to understand the origin of one-body dissipation in nuclei, we
analyze the behavior of a gas of classical particles moving in a
two-dimensional cavity with nuclear dimensions. This "nuclear" billiard has
multipole-deformed walls which undergo periodic shape oscillations. We
demonstrate that a single particle Hamiltonian containing coupling terms
between the particles' motion and the collective coordinate induces a chaotic
dynamics for any multipolarity, independently on the geometry of the billiard.
If the coupling terms are switched off the "wall formula" predictions are
recovered. We discuss the dissipative behavior of the wall motion and its
relation with the order-to-chaos transition in the dynamics of the microscopic
degrees of freedom.Comment: 16 pages, 12 postscript figures included, revtex, new version
completely revised accepted by Physical Review C and scheduled to appear in
the issue of november 199
Early management of COPD: Where are we now and where do we go from here? a delphi consensus project
Purpose: There is a lack of consensus on the most appropriate early diagnostic strategy, criteria for early access to treatment and follow-up approach for patients with COPD.Materials and methods: A Delphi consensus project investigated the early management of COPD. We formulated two questionnaires for completion by pneumologists in Italy.Results: A total of 207 specialists completed questionnaire 1 and 184 of them questionnaire 2, between November 2016 and October 2017. Early diagnosis of COPD was considered uncommon for 93.2% of the expert panel. Regardless of the definition of "early diagnosis" - a diagnosis made before the clinical manifestation of the disease for most responders (60.4%) - experts were confident of the positive effects of early disease management, which they consider is effective in modifying the natural history of the disease. Lack of awareness of the disease was considered the first limiting factor to early COPD management for 78% of respondents. The most effective steps to reduce functional decline were considered to be smoking cessation, followed by long-acting beta 2-agonist (LABA)/long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA), LAMA, LABA, and finally inhaled corticosteroid/LABA (P<0.01 for each paired comparison). Specialists considered it "inappropriate" for general practitioners to perform both the early diagnosis and therapy of COPD without the involvement of a specialist.Conclusion: Early management of COPD is uncommon, and although data on the effects of early disease management on long-term outcomes are limited, Italian experts are confident of the clinical efficacy of this approach
On the asymptotic behaviour of solutions to the fractional porous medium equation with variable density
We are concerned with the long time behaviour of solutions to the fractional
porous medium equation with a variable spatial density. We prove that if the
density decays slowly at infinity, then the solution approaches the
Barenblatt-type solution of a proper singular fractional problem. If, on the
contrary, the density decays rapidly at infinity, we show that the minimal
solution multiplied by a suitable power of the time variable converges to the
minimal solution of a certain fractional sublinear elliptic equation.Comment: To appear in DCDS-
Spatial structure of quark Cooper pairs in a color superconductor
Spatial structure of Cooper pairs with quantum numbers color 3^*, I=J=L=S=0
in ud 2 flavor quark matter is studied by solving the gap equation and
calculating the coherence length in full momentum range without the weak
coupling approximation. Although the gap at the Fermi surface and the coherence
length depend on density weakly, the shape of the r-space pair wave function
varies strongly with density. This result indicates that quark Cooper pairs
become more bosonic at higher densities.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. The frequency dependence of the gap and the
limitation on the type I/type II discussion are mentioned briefly. To appear
in Phys. Rev.
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