146 research outputs found
Thomas-Fermi Calculations of Atoms and Matter in Magnetic Neutron Stars II: Finite Temperature Effects
We present numerical calculations of the equation of state for dense matter
in high magnetic fields, using a temperature dependent Thomas-Fermi theory with
a magnetic field that takes all Landau levels into account. Free energies for
atoms and matter are also calculated as well as profiles of the electron
density as a function of distance from the atomic nucleus for representative
values of the magnetic field strength, total matter density, and temperature.
The Landau shell structure, which is so prominent in cold dense matter in high
magnetic fields, is still clearly present at finite temperature as long as it
is less than approximately one tenth of the cyclotron energy. This structure is
reflected in an oscillatory behaviour of the equation of state and other
thermodynamic properties of dense matter and hence also in profiles of the
density and pressure as functions of depth in the surface layers of magnetic
neutron stars. These oscillations are completely smoothed out by thermal
effects at temperatures of the order of the cyclotron energy or higher.Comment: 37 pages, 17 figures included, submitted to Ap
Three-Particle Correlations in Simple Liquids
We use video microscopy to follow the phase-space trajectory of a
two-dimensional colloidal model liquid and calculate three-point correlation
functions from the measured particle configurations. Approaching the
fluid-solid transition by increasing the strength of the pair-interaction
potential, one observes the gradual formation of a crystal-like local order due
to triplet correlations, while being still deep inside the fluid phase.
Furthermore, we show that in a strongly interacting system the Born-Green
equation can be satisfied only with the full triplet correlation function but
not with three-body distribution functions obtained from superposing
pair-correlations (Kirkwood superposition approximation).Comment: 4 pages, submitted to PRL, experimental paper, 2nd version: Fig.1 and
two new paragraphs have been adde
Neutrino opacity in magnetised hot and dense nuclear matter
We study the neutrino interaction rates in hot matter at high densities in
the presence of uniform magnetic field. The neutrino cross-sections involving
both the charged current absorption and neutral current scattering reactions on
baryons and leptons have been considered. We have in particular considered the
interesting case when the magnetic field is strong enough to completely
polarise the protons and electrons in supernovae and neutron stars. The opacity
in such a situation is considerably modified and the cross-section develops
anisotropy. This has implications for phenomenon invoked in the literature to
explain the observed pulsar kicks.Comment: 22 latex pages and 7 postscript figure
Consistent alpha-cluster description of the 12C (0^+_2) resonance
The near-threshold 12C (0^+_2) resonance provides unique possibility for fast
helium burning in stars, as predicted by Hoyle to explain the observed
abundance of elements in the Universe. Properties of this resonance are
calculated within the framework of the alpha-cluster model whose two-body and
three-body effective potentials are tuned to describe the alpha - alpha
scattering data, the energies of the 0^+_1 and 0^+_2 states, and the
0^+_1-state root-mean-square radius. The extremely small width of the 0^+_2
state, the 0_2^+ to 0_1^+ monopole transition matrix element, and transition
radius are found in remarkable agreement with the experimental data. The
0^+_2-state structure is described as a system of three alpha-particles
oscillating between the ground-state-like configuration and the elongated chain
configuration whose probability exceeds 0.9
Puzzling thermonuclear burst behaviour from the transient low-mass X-ray binary IGR J17473-2721
We investigate the thermonuclear bursting behaviour of IGR J17473-2721, an
X-ray transient that in 2008 underwent a six month long outburst, starting
(unusually) with an X-ray burst. We detected a total of 57 thermonuclear bursts
throughout the outburst with AGILE, Swift, RXTE, and INTEGRAL. The wide range
of inferred accretion rates (between <1% and about 20% of the Eddington
accretion rate m-dot_Edd) spanned during the outburst allows us to study
changes in the nuclear burning processes and to identify up to seven different
phases. The burst rate increased gradually with the accretion rate until it
dropped (at a persistent flux corresponding to about 15% of m-dot_Edd) a few
days before the outburst peak, after which bursts were not detected for a
month. As the persistent emission subsequently decreased, the bursting activity
resumed with a much lower rate than during the outburst rise. This hysteresis
may arise from the thermal effect of the accretion on the surface nuclear
burning processes, and the timescale is roughly consistent with that expected
for the neutron star crust thermal response. On the other hand, an undetected
superburst, occurring within a data gap near the outburst peak, could have
produced a similar quenching of burst activity.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRA
Triplet correlations in two-dimensional colloidal model liquids
Three-body distribution functions in classical fluids have been theoretically
investigated many times, but have never been measured directly. We present
experimental three-point correlation functions that are computed from particle
configurations measured by means of video-microscopy in two types of
quasi-two-dimensional colloidal model fluids: a system of charged colloidal
particles and a system of paramagnetic colloids. In the first system the
particles interact via a Yukawa potential, in the second via a potential
. We find for both systems very similar results: on increasing
the coupling between the particles one observes the gradual formation of a
crystal-like local order due to triplet correlations, even though the system is
still deep inside the fluid phase. These are mainly packing effects as is
evident from the close resemblance between the results for the two systems
having completely different pair-interaction potentials.Comment: many pages, 8 figures, contribution to the special issue in J.Phys.
Cond. Mat. of the CECAM meeting in LYON ''Many-body....'
The Ground States of Large Quantum Dots in Magnetic Fields
The quantum mechanical ground state of a 2D -electron system in a
confining potential ( is a coupling constant) and a homogeneous
magnetic field is studied in the high density limit , with fixed. It is proved that the ground state energy and
electronic density can be computed {\it exactly} in this limit by minimizing
simple functionals of the density. There are three such functionals depending
on the way varies as : A 2D Thomas-Fermi (TF) theory applies
in the case ; if the correct limit theory
is a modified -dependent TF model, and the case is described
by a ``classical'' continuum electrostatic theory. For homogeneous potentials
this last model describes also the weak coupling limit for arbitrary
. Important steps in the proof are the derivation of a new Lieb-Thirring
inequality for the sum of eigenvalues of single particle Hamiltonians in 2D
with magnetic fields, and an estimation of the exchange-correlation energy. For
this last estimate we study a model of classical point charges with
electrostatic interactions that provides a lower bound for the true quantum
mechanical energy.Comment: 57 pages, Plain tex, 5 figures in separate uufil
Neutrino Propagation in a Strongly Magnetized Medium
We derive general expressions at the one-loop level for the coefficients of
the covariant structure of the neutrino self-energy in the presence of a
constant magnetic field. The neutrino energy spectrum and index of refraction
are obtained for neutral and charged media in the strong-field limit () using the lowest Landau level
approximation. The results found within the lowest Landau level approximation
are numerically validated, summing in all Landau levels, for strong and weakly-strong fields. The neutrino energy in
leading order of the Fermi coupling constant is expressed as the sum of three
terms: a kinetic-energy term, a term of interaction between the magnetic field
and an induced neutrino magnetic moment, and a rest-energy term. The leading
radiative correction to the kinetic-energy term depends linearly on the
magnetic field strength and is independent of the chemical potential. The other
two terms are only present in a charged medium. For strong and weakly-strong
fields, it is found that the field-dependent correction to the neutrino energy
in a neutral medium is much larger than the thermal one. Possible applications
to cosmology and astrophysics are considered.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures. Corrected misprints in reference
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