Unified equation of state for neutron stars based on the Gogny interaction

t: The effective Gogny interactions of the D1 family were established by D. Gogny more than forty years ago with the aim to describe simultaneously the mean field and the pairing field corresponding to the nuclear interaction. The most popular Gogny parametrizations, namely D1S, D1N and D1M, describe accurately the ground-state properties of spherical and deformed finite nuclei all across the mass table obtained with Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) calculations. However, these forces produce a rather soft equation of state (EoS) in neutron matter, which leads to predict maximum masses of neutron stars well below the observed value of two solar masses. To remove this limitation, we built new Gogny parametrizations by modifying the density dependence of the symmetry energy predicted by the force in such a way that they can be applied to the neutron star domain and can also reproduce the properties of finite nuclei as good as their predecessors. These new parametrizations allow us to obtain stiffer EoS's based on the Gogny interactions, which predict maximum masses of neutron stars around two solar masses. Moreover, other global properties of the star, such as the moment of inertia and the tidal deformability, are in harmony with those obtained with other well tested EoSs based on the SLy4 Skyrme force or the Barcelona-Catania-Paris-Madrid (BCPM) energy density functional. Properties of the core-crust transition predicted by these Gogny EoSs are also analyzed. Using these new Gogny forces, the EoS in the inner crust is obtained with the Wigner-Seitz approximation in the Variational Wigner-Kirkwood approach along with the Strutinsky integral method, which allows one to estimate in a perturbative way the proton shell and pairing corrections. For the outer crust, the EoS is determined basically by the nuclear masses, which are taken from the experiments, wherever they are available, or by HFB calculations performed with these new forces if the experimental masses are not known

GW170817 constraints analyzed with Gogny forces and momentum-dependent interactions

A set of equations of state obtained from finite-range Gogny forces and momentum-dependent interactions is used to investigate the recent observation of gravitational waves from the binary neutron star merger GW170817 event. For this set of interactions, we have calculated the neutron star tidal deformabilities (related to the second Love number), the mass-radius diagram, and the moment of inertia (I). The I-Love relation has been verified. We also have found strong correlations among the tidal deformability of the canonical neutron star, its radius, and the derivatives of the nuclear symmetry energy at the saturation density. Most of the obtained results are located within the constraints of the tidal deformabilities extracted from the GW170817 detection

Pasta-phase transitions in the inner crust of neutron stars

We perform calculations of nuclear pasta phases in the inner crust of neutron stars with the Thomas-Fermi method and the Compressible Liquid Drop Model using the Barcelona-Catania-Paris-Madrid (BCPM) energy density functional and several Skyrme forces. We compare the crust-core transition density estimated from the crust side with the predictions obtained from the core by using the thermodynamical and dynamical methods. Finally, the correlation between the crust-core transition density and the slope of the symmetry energy at saturation is briefly analyzed

Neutron-rich matter in atomic nuclei and neutron stars

[eng] The proper understanding of the equation of state (EoS) of highly asymmetric nuclear matter is essential when studying systems such as neutron stars (NSs). Using zero-range Skyrme interactions and finite-range interactions such as Gogny forces, momentum-dependent interactions (MDI) and simple effective interactions (SEI), we analyze the properties of the EoS and the influence they may have on the calculations for NSs. We start by studying the convergence properties of the Taylor series expansion of EoS in powers of the isospin asymmetry. Next, we analyze the accuracy of the results for β-stable nuclear matter, which is found in the interior of NSs, when it is computed using the Taylor expansion of the EoS. The agreement with the results obtained using the full expression of the EoS is better for interactions with small-to-moderate values of the slope of the symmetry energy L. The mass and radius relation for a NS is obtained by integrating the so-called Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equations, where the input is the EoS of the system. We have studied the mass-radius relation for Skyrme and Gogny interactions, and we see that that very soft forces are not able to give stable solutions of the TOV equations and only the stiff enough parametrizations can provide 2M0 NSs. We also notice that none of the existing parametrizations of the standard Gogny D1 interaction is able to provide a NS inside the observational constraints. Because of that, we propose a new parametrization, which we name D1M∗, that is able to provide NSs of 2M0 while still providing the same good description of finite nuclei as D1M. A parametrization D1M∗∗ is also presented, which is fitted in the same way as D1M∗ and provides NSs up to 1.91M0. Moreover, we estimate the core-crust transition in NSs by finding where the nuclear matter in the core is unstable against fluctuations of the density. To do that, we employ two methods, the thermodynamical method and the dynamical method. In the case of finite-range interactions, such as the Gogny ones, to use the dynamical method we have had to derive the explicit expression of the energy curvature matrix in momentum space for this type of interactions. We observe a decreasing trend of the transition density with the slope L of the symmetry energy, while the correlation between the transition pressure and L is much lower. Finally different NS properties are studied. The crustal properties, such as the crustal mass, crustal thickness and crustal fraction of the moment of inertial have lower values if one computes them using the core-crust transition density obtained with the dynamical method instead of the one obtained with the thermodynamical method, pointing out the importance of the accurate evaluation of the transition density when studying observational phenomena. We have also studied the moment of inertia of NSs, which is compared to constraints proposed in the literature. Finally, the tidal deformability for NSs is also calculated and compared with the constraints coming from the GW170817 event detected by the LIGO and Virgo observatories and which accounts for the merger of two NSs in a binary system.[cat] El coneixement de l’equació d’estat (EoS) de matèria altament densa i assimètrica és essencial per tal d’estudiar les estrelles de neutrons (NSs). En aquesta tesi s’analitzen, utilitzant interaccions de camp mig no relativistes, les propietats de l’EoS i la seva influència en càlculs de NSs. Primerament, s’estudia la convergència del desenvolupament en sèrie de Taylor de l’EoS en potències de l'assimetria d’isospí. Seguidament, s’analitza l’exactitud dels resultats per matèria β-estable, la qual es troba a l’interior de les NSs, quan es calcula utilitzant el desenvolupament de Taylor de l’EoS. La relació entre la massa i el radi obtinguda integrant les equacions Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) també és estudiada. A causa de que les interaccions de Gogny de la família D1 no aconsegueixen donar NSs compatibles amb observacions astrofísiques, en aquesta tesi proposem dues noves forces de Gogny, anomenades D1M∗ i D1M∗∗, les quals poden donar, respectivament, NSs de 2 i 1.91 masses solars. Una altra part de la tesi es dedica a l’estudi de la transició entre l’escorça i el nucli, buscant la densitat a la qual la matèria uniforme al nucli és inestable contra fluctuacions de densitat. Ho estudiem amb dos mètodes, el mètode termodinàmic i el mètode dinàmic. Finalment, s’analitzen diverses propietats de les NSs, com són la relació entre la massa i el radi de l’estrella, les propietats de l’escorça, el moment d’inèrcia, així com la deformació deguda als corrents de marea (tidal deformability) que està relacionada amb l’emissió d’ones gravitacionals en sistemes binaris d’estrelles de neutrons

The modified D1M interactions: new gogny forces adapted for neutron star calculations

The symmetry energy of the D1 family of Gogny interactions, which describe finite nuclei properties in good agreement with experimental data, shows too soft a behaviour above saturation density. As a consequence, the D1 family of Gogny forces often cannot describe the properties of neutron stars when extrapolated to the high-density region. To overcome this limitation, we have proposed reparametrizations of the D1M interaction with very minimal changes. The modified interactions retain the quality of the original force for dealing with finite nuclei and, at the same time, are able to describe the neutron star physics with a quality similar to the one provided by the Skyrme SLy4 force, which was specially designed for this purpose

Retinal Microvascular Impairment in COVID-19 Bilateral Pneumonia Assessed by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the presence of retinal and microvascular alterations in COVID-19 patients with bilateral pneumonia due to SARS-COV-2 that required hospital admission and compare this with a cohort of age- and sex-matched controls. COVID-19 bilateral pneumonia patients underwent retinal imaging 14 days after hospital discharge with structural optical coherence tomography (OCT) and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) measurements. Vessel density (VD) and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area were evaluated in the superficial, deep capillary plexus (SCP, DCP), and choriocapillaris (CC). After exclusion criteria, only one eye per patient was selected, and 50 eyes (25 patients and 25 controls) were included in the analysis. COVID-19 patients presented significantly thinner ganglion cell layer (GCL) (p = 0.003) and thicker retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) compared to controls (p = 0.048), and this RNFL thickening was greater in COVID-19 cases with cotton wool spots (CWS), when compared with patients without CWS (p = 0.032). In both SCP and DCP, COVID-19 patients presented lower VD in the foveal region (p p = 0.007). These findings suggest that thrombotic and inflammatory phenomena could be happening in the retina of COVID-19 patients. Further research is warranted to analyze the longitudinal evolution of these changes over time as well as their correlation with disease severity