Static Response of Neutron Matter.
Mateusz Buraczynski1, Alexandros Gezerlis1
1Department of Physics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
Physical Review Letters
|April 30, 2016
Summary
We studied strongly interacting neutron matter under external modulation to understand inhomogeneous neutron systems. Our quantum Monte Carlo calculations reveal insights into neutron-star crusts and neutron-rich nuclei.
Area of Science:
- Nuclear physics
- Astrophysics
- Condensed matter physics
Background:
- Neutron matter is crucial for understanding neutron stars and atomic nuclei.
- Studying inhomogeneous neutron systems requires advanced theoretical models.
- External modulations provide a way to probe neutron matter properties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To generalize the study of strongly interacting neutron matter by introducing periodic external modulation.
- To investigate the physics of extended and inhomogeneous neutron systems.
- To connect findings to neutron-star crusts and neutron-rich nuclei.
Main Methods:
- Fully nonperturbative microscopic quantum Monte Carlo calculations.
- Analysis of neutron matter energy at various densities, external potential strengths, and periodicities.
- Examination of finite-size effects and wave function ansatz impact to mitigate systematic errors.
Main Results:
- Calculated the energy of modulated neutron matter across different physical conditions.
- Established connections between microscopic calculations and energy-density functional theories.
- Disentangled isovector gradient contributions from bulk properties.
- Computed the static density-density linear response function.
Conclusions:
- The study provides a first-principles understanding of inhomogeneous neutron matter.
- Findings offer insights relevant to both astrophysical neutron stars and nuclear physics.
- The developed methods allow for detailed analysis of neutron matter response functions.
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