Superfluid Properties of the Inner Crust of Neutron Stars

Superfluid properties of the inner crust matter of neutron stars, formed by nuclear clusters immersed in a dilute neutron gas, are analysed in a self- consistent HFB approach. The calculations are performed with two pairing forces, fixed so as to obtain in infinite nuclear matter the pairing gaps provided by the Gogny force or by induced interactions. It is shown that the nuclear clusters can either suppress or enhance the pairing correlations inside the inner crust matter, depending on the density of the surrounding neutrons. The profile of the pairing field in the inner crust is rather similar for both pairing forces, but the values of the pairing gaps are drastically reduced for the force which simulates the polarisation effects in infinite neutron matter.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures. Corrected typos and new format. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Treatment of pairing correlations in nuclei close to drip lines

We discuss the HFB equations in coordinate representation,a suitable method for handling the full effects of the continuous quasiparticle spectrum. We show how the continuum HFB equations can be solved with the correct asymptotic conditions instead of the discretization conditions which are commonly used in the literature. The continuum HFB method is illustrated with a model where the mean field and pairing field have simple forms. The relationship with the continuum Hartree-Fock-BCS (HF-BCS) approximation is also discussed. Realistic HFB and HF-BCS calculations based on Skyrme interactions are compared for the case of a neutron-rich nucleus.Comment: 12 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses KapProc.cls, to appear in Proceedings of NATO School " Nuclei far from stability and astrophysics", Predeal, Romania, 200

Compression modes in nuclei: microscopic models with Skyrme interactions

The isoscalar giant monopole resonances (ISGMR) and giant dipole resonances (ISGDR) in medium-heavy nuclei are investigated in the framework of HF+RPA and HF-BCS+QRPA with Skyrme effective interactions. It is found that pairing has little effect on these modes. It is also found that the coupling of the RPA states to 2p-2h configurations results in about (or less than) 1 MeV shifts of the resonance energies and at the same time gives the correct total widths. For the ISGMR, comparison with recent data leads to a value of nuclear matter compression modulus close to 215 MeV. However, a discrepancy between calculated and measured energies of the ISGDR in $^{208}$Pb is found and remains an open problem.Comment: To appear in: ``RIKEN Symposium and Workshop on Selected Topics in Nuclear Collective Excitations'', proceedings of the meeting, RIKEN, Wako city (Japan), March 20--24, 199

Galectinas durante la placentación porcina

La placenta porcina es epiteliocorial y no invasiva. Aún quedan por comprender muchos de los mecanismos que participan en la placentación de la cerda, y por qué en esta especie la reabsorción embrionaria/fetal es tan elevada. Las galectinas (Gal) son una familia de proteínas que se expresan en diversos órganos, incluidos la placenta materna y fetal. En numerosas especies se demostró la importancia de las galectinas en la regulación de la inmunidad gestacional, como así también de los procesos de adhesión celular, apoptosis, angiogénesis y migración celular durante la gestación. Sin embargo, no se encontraron en la bibliografía estudios sobre las galectinas en la placenta porcina. Hasta el momento se ha determinado y analizado el comportamiento espaciotemporal por inmunohistoquímica de Gal-1 en la interfase fetomaterna. Se procesaron muestras de endometrio no gestante (n=4) y placentas (n=20) de 17, 30, 60, 70 y 114 días de gestación (dg), de cerdas mestizas de la zona de General Pico, La Pampa. Si bien en epitelio endometrial de cerda no gestante se halló expresión leve a negativo de Gal-1; durante la gestación se observaron modificaciones en la expresión de esta molécula. A los 17dg se halló marca leve en epitelio endometrial y fuerte en trofoblasto. A los 30dg se observó fuerte expresión de Gal-1 tanto en epitelio luminal endometrial como en trofoblasto. A los 60dg se observó inmunotinción moderada a alta en epitelio materno y alta en trofoblasto; y a los 70dg Gal-1 se expresó levemente a negativo en epitelio endometrial y levemente en trofoblasto. No se observó expresión a los 114dg. Hay momentos en la gestación porcina de gran remodelación placentaria, lo que implica establecimiento de un diálogo entre las moléculas de adhesión y el sistema inmunológico para el desarrollo de un ambiente tanto proinflamatorio como antiinflamatorio local. Estudios en la Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias de la Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, demostraron que en dichos periodos predominan ciertas moléculas de adhesión y sus ligandos, como así también citoquinas inmuno reguladoras. La presencia de Gal-1 tanto a los 17dg, como a los 30 y 60-70dg, nos sugiere que podría estar regulando en tiempo y espacio una correcta placentación. Su ausencia a los 114dg regularía el desprendimiento de las placentas en el momento del parto. Conocer la presencia y concentración de las galectinas en la placenta porcina en distintos momentos de la gestación, aportará información de la participación de estas moléculas en la gestación normal; para luego determinar posibles variaciones a lo largo de la preñez que puedan relacionarse con la muerte embrionaria/fetal. El objetivo de este proyecto es analizar la expresión de Gal-1, Gal-3, Gal-9 y Gal-13, en preparados histológicos de interfase fetomaterna, en suero y en homogenatos de placentas porcinas provenientes de diferentes períodos gestacionales y de cerdas no gestantes

Pairing effects on the collectivity of quadrupole states around 32Mg

The first 2+ states in N=20 isotones including neutron-rich nuclei 32Mg and 30Ne are studied by the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov plus quasiparticle random phase approximation method based on the Green's function approach. The residual interaction between the quasiparticles is consistently derived from the hamiltonian density of Skyrme interactions with explicit velocity dependence. The B(E2) transition probabilities and the excitation energies of the first 2+ states are well described within a single framework. We conclude that pairing effects account largely for the anomalously large B(E2) value and the very low excitation energy in 32Mg.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Estudio mineralógico de algunas calcedonias argentinas

El trabajo se realizó teniendo en cuenta la reacción de este mineral con el cemento portland, la cuál produce efectos perjudiciales en los hormigones. Se comprobó que en ciertos casos la reacción no se produce. Se investigan las causas de tal comportamiento. El material utilizado para el estudio proviene de los ríos Uruguay y Paraná, ya que son las principales fuentes de abastecimiento de agregados del Gran Buenos Aires. Las "calcedonias" estudiadas están compuestas por un agregado fino de cuarzo, calcedonia y ópalo. La proporción relativa de dichos minerales condiciona la reactividad de los mismos.This paper deals with the reaction between chalcedony and Portland cement. This reaction damages the structure of the reinforced concrete, when aggregates of this kind are used for that purpose. In certain cases the concerned reaction do not take place. For that reason a detailed study was carried out to determine the behavior of the materials. The aggregates used for this, study come from Paraná and Uruguay rivers; the sediments of this area supply enough material from the Gran Buenos Aires market. The so call "chalcedony" studies are mainly composed of fine quartz, chalcedony and opal. The relative amounts of these minerals are thought to affect the behavior of the aggregates when they are mixed with portland cement

Half-lives of rp-process waiting point nuclei

We give results of microscopic calculations for the half-lives of various proton-rich nuclei in the mass region A=60-90, which are involved in the astrophysical rp-process, and which are needed as input parameters of numerical simulations in Nuclear Astrophysics. The microscopic formalism consists of a deformed QRPA approach that involves a selfconsistent quasiparticle deformed Skyrme Hartree-Fock basis and residual spin-isospin separable forces in both the particle-hole and particle-particle channels. The strength of the particle-hole residual interaction is chosen to be consistent with the Skyrme effective force and mean field basis, while that of the particle-particle is globally fixed to 0.07 MeV after a judicious choice from comparison to experimental half-lives. We study and discuss the sensitivity of the half-lives to deformation and residual interactions.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Eur. Phys. J.

Dirac-Brueckner Hartree-Fock Approach: from Infinite Matter to Effective Lagrangians for Finite Systems

One of the open problems in nuclear structure is how to predict properties of finite nuclei from the knowledge of a bare nucleon-nucleon interaction of the meson-exchange type. We point out that a promising starting point consists in Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock (DBHF) calculations us- ing realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions like the Bonn potentials, which are able to reproduce satisfactorily the properties of symmetric nuclear matter without the need for 3-body forces, as is necessary in non-relativistic BHF calculations. However, the DBHF formalism is still too com- plicated to be used directly for finite nuclei. We argue that a possible route is to define effective Lagrangians with density-dependent nucleon-meson coupling vertices, which can be used in the Relativistic Hartree (or Relativistic Mean Field (RMF)) or preferrably in the Relativistic Hartree- Fock (RHF) approach. The density-dependence is matched to the nuclear matter DBHF results. We review the present status of nuclear matter DBHF calculations and discuss the various schemes to construct the self-energy, which lead to differences in the predictions. We also discuss how effective Lagrangians have been constructed and are used in actual calculations. We point out that completely consistent calculations in this scheme still have to be performed.Comment: 16 pages, to be published in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, special issue

Two-neutron transfer in nuclei close to the dripline

We investigate the two-neutron transfer modes induced by (t,p) reactions in neutron-rich oxygen isotopes. The nuclear response to the pair transfer is calculated in the framework of continuum-Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (cQRPA). The cQRPA allows a consistent determination of the residual interaction and an exact treatment of the continuum coupling. The (t,p) cross sections are calculated within the DWBA approach and the form factors are evaluated by different methods : macroscopically, following the Bayman and Kallio method, and fully microscopically. The largest cross section corresponds to a high-lying collective mode built entirely upon continuum quasiparticle states.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Resonant continuum in the Hartree-Fock+BCS approximation

A method for incorporating the effect of the resonant continuum into Hartree-Fock+BCS equations is proposed. The method is applied for the case of a neutron-rich nucleus calculated with a Skyrme-type force plus a zero-range pairing interaction and the results are compared with Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations. It is shown that the widths of resonant states have an important effect on the pairing properties of nuclei close to the drip line.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, comparison with HFB adde