Non-uniform structures in low-density nuclear matter and neutron star crust

Abstract

In neutron star crust, non-uniform structure of nuclear matter are expected which is called "pasta" structure. From the recent studies of magnetar giant flares, these structures might be related to some observables and physical quantity of neutron star crust. In the perspective of the calculation for above quantities, we numerically explore the pasta structures and properties of low-density catalyzed nuclear matter based on the relativistic mean-fields model and Thomas-Fermi approximation with a fully three-dimensional geometry. We observe two type of conventional pasta structures. We also discuss the crystalline structure of "pasta". © Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike Licence.