Kernstrukturen in der Kruste von Neutronensternen und realistische Nukleon - Nukleon Wechselwirkungen

12/04/2012

A challenge for theoretical nuclear structure physics and astrophysics is the description of the neutron star crust, which incorporates the transition from isolated nuclei via a crystal-like structure of quasi-nuclei embedded in a neutron sea to a phase of homogeneous baryon matter. Therefore, physics of the neutron star crust is closely related to the research planned in a new generation of radioactive beam facilities, e.g. the future GSI facility FAIR in Germany, which are focused on the structure of exotic neutron-rich nuclei. Descriptions of the neutron star crust have been based on simple phenomenological interaction models up to the present. These interaction models are adjusted to describe the saturation properties of symmetric nuclear matter and the structure of stable nuclei located in the valley of beta equilibrium. Hence, their predictive power may be rather limited, in particular when extrapolated to highly asymmetric systems such as the neutron star crust. Therefore, we suggest a more microscopic description with a realistic interaction, since these approaches have a high predictive power. The proposed project contains the development of a microscopic Hartree-Fock approach using a realistic effective interaction V_{low-k} for the neutron star crust. The topics to be investigated with this approach are the nonhomogeneous nuclear structures, the direct Urca process, the neutrino propagation, and the specific heat in the neutron star crust. These issues are crucial for improving our understanding of supernova explosions and the evolution of neutron stars.