Neutrino propagation in Neutron Matter and the Nuclear Equation of State

We study the propagation of neutrinos inside dense matter under the conditions prevailing in a proto-neutron star. Equations of state obtained with different nuclear effective interactions (Skyrme type and Gogny type) are first discussed. It is found that for many interactions, spin and/or isospin instabilities occur at densities larger than the saturation density of nuclear matter. From this study we select two representative interactions, SLy230b and D1P. We calculate the response functions in pure neutron matter where nuclear correlations are described at the Hartree-Fock plus RPA level. These response functions allow us to evaluate neutrino mean free paths corresponding to neutral current processes.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, to appear in "The Nuclear Many-Body Problem 2001", NATO Science Series II (Kluwer Academic Publishers

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

Convergence of Particle-Hole Expansions for the Description of Nuclear Correlations

The convergence properties of a multiparticle-multihole (mp-mh) configuration mixing approach whose purpose is to describe ground state correlations in nuclei without particle number and Pauli violations is investigated in the case of an exactly solvable pairing hamiltonian. Two different truncation schemes are tested by looking at quantities as correlation energies and single-particle occupation probabilities. Results show that pairing correlations present in usual superfluid nuclei can be accurately described using up to 6 particle-6 hole excitations, a convergence fast enought for envisaging extensions to fully microscopic calculations.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Evolution of the proton sd states in neutron-rich Ca isotopes

We analyze the evolution with increasing isospin asymmetry of the proton single-particle states 2s1/2 and 1d3/2 in Ca isotopes, using non-relativistic and relativistic mean field approaches. Both models give similar trends and it is shown that this evolution is sensitive to the neutron shell structure, the two states becoming more or less close depending on the neutron orbitals which are filled. In the regions where the states get closer some parametrizations predict an inversion between them. This inversion occurs near $^{48}$Ca as well as very far from stability where the two states systematically cross each other if the drip line predicted in the model is located far enough. We study in detail the modification of the two single-particle energies by using the equivalent potential in the Schroedinger-like Skyrme-Hartree-Fock equations. The role played by central, kinetic and spin-orbit contributions is discussed. We finally show that the effect of a tensor component in the effective interaction considerably favors the inversion of the two proton states in $^{48}$Ca.Comment: 7 figure

Continued fraction approximation for the nuclear matter response function

We use a continued fraction approximation to calculate the RPA response function of nuclear matter. The convergence of the approximation is assessed by comparing with the numerically exact response function obtained with a typical effective finite-range interaction used in nuclear physics. It is shown that just the first order term of the expansion can give reliable results at densities up to the saturation density value

Quasi-particle continuum and resonances in the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory

The quasi-particle energy spectrum of the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) equations contains discrete bound states, resonances, and non-resonant continuum states. We study the structure of the unbound quasi-particle spectrum of weakly bound nuclei within several methods that do not rely on imposing scattering or outgoing boundary conditions. Various approximations are examined to estimate resonance widths. It is shown that the stabilization method works well for all HFB resonances except for very narrow ones. The Thomas-Fermi approximation to the non-resonant continuum has been shown to be very effective, especially for coordinate-space HFB calculations in large boxes that involve huge amounts of discretized quasi-particle continuum states.Comment: 12 pages,11 figures,submitted to PR

Evolution of Nuclear Shell Structure due to the Pion Exchange Potential

The evolution of nuclear shell structure is investigated for the first time within density-dependent relativistic Hartree-Fock theory and the role of $\pi$-exchange potential is studied in detail. The energy differences between the neutron orbits \Lrb{\nu1h_{9/2},\nu 1i_{13/2}} in the N=82 isotones and between the proton ones \Lrb{\pi1g_{7/2},\pi1h_{11/2}} in the Z=50 isotopes are extracted as a function of neutron excess $N-Z$. A kink around $Z = 58$ for the N=82 isotones is found as an effect resulting from pion correlations. It is shown that the inclusion of $\pi$-coupling plays a central role to provide realistic isospin dependence of the energy differences. In particular, the tensor part of the $\pi$-coupling has an important effect on the characteristic isospin dependence observed in recent experiments.Comment: 4 pages and 4 figure

Neutrino mean free path and in-medium nuclear interaction

Neutrinos produced during the collapse of a massive star are trapped in a nuclear medium (the proto-neutron star). Typically, neutrino energies (10-100 MeV) are of the order of nuclear giant resonances energies. Hence, neutrino propagation is modified by the possibility of coherent scattering on nucleons. We have compared the predictions of different nuclear interaction models. It turns out that their main discrepancies are related to the density dependence of the k-effective mass as well as to the onset of instabilities as density increases. This last point had led us to a systematic study of instabilities of infinite matter with effective Skyrme-type interactions. We have shown that for such interactions there is always a critical density, above which the system becomes unstable.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings of the 17th Divisional Conference on Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics (NPDC17), 30th September - 4th October 2002, ATOMKI, Debrecen, Hungary, to appear in Nuclear Physics

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