Silvia Chiacchiera

Light clusters, pasta phases and phase transitions in core-collapse supernova matter

The pasta phase in core-collapse supernova matter (finite temperatures and fixed proton fractions) is studied within relativistic mean-field models. Three different calculations are used for comparison: the Thomas--Fermi, the coexisting phases, and the compressible liquid drop approximations. The effects of including light clusters in nuclear matter and the densities at which the transitions between pasta configurations and to uniform matter occur are also investigated. The free energy, pressure, entropy, and chemical potentials in the range of particle number densities and temperatures expected to cover the pasta region are calculated. Finally, a comparison with a finite-temperature Skyrme--Hartree--Fock calculation is drawn.

Imprint of the symmetry energy on the inner crust and strangeness content of neutron stars

In this work we study the effect of the symmetry energy on several properties of neutron stars. First, we discuss its effect on the density, proton fraction and pressure of the neutron star crust-core transition. We show that whereas the first two quantities present a clear correlation with the slope parameter L of the symmetry energy, no satisfactory correlation is seen between the transition pressure and L . However, a linear combination of the slope and curvature parameters at ρ = 0.1 fm−3 is well correlated with the transition pressure. In the second part we analyze the effect of the symmetry energy on the pasta phase. It is shown that the size of the pasta clusters, number of nucleons and the cluster proton fraction depend on the density dependence of the symmetry energy: a small L gives rise to larger clusters. The influence of the equation of state at subsaturation densities on the extension of the inner crust of the neutron star is also discussed. Finally, the effect of the density dependence of the symmetry energy on the strangeness content of neutron stars is studied in the last part of the work. It is found that charged (neutral) hyperons appear at smaller (larger) densities for smaller values of the slope parameter L. A linear correlation between the radius and the strangeness content of a star with a fixed mass is also found.

Dipole oscillations in fermionic mixtures

We study dipole oscillations in a general fermionic mixture. Starting from the Boltzmann equation, we classify the different solutions in the parameter space through the number of real eigenvalues of the small oscillations matrix. We discuss how this number can be computed using the Sturm algorithm and its relation with the properties of the Laplace transform of the experimental quantities. After considering two components in harmonic potentials having different trapping frequencies, we study dipole oscillations in three-component mixtures. Explicit computations are done for realistic experimental setups using the classical Boltzmann equation without intraspecies interactions. A brief discussion of the application of this classification to general collective oscillations is also presented.

Numerical solution of the Boltzmann equation for the collective modes of trapped Fermi gases

We numerically solve the Boltzmann equation for trapped fermions in the normal phase using the test-particle method. After discussing a couple of tests in order to estimate the reliability of the method, we apply it to the description of collective modes in a spherical harmonic trap. The numerical results are compared with those obtained previously by taking moments of the Boltzmann equation. We find that the general shape of the response function is very similar in both methods, but the relaxation time obtained from the simulation is significantly longer than that predicted by the method of moments. It is shown that the result of the method of moments can be corrected by including fourth-order moments in addition to the usual second-order ones and that this method agrees very well with our numerical simulations.

Damping of the quadrupole mode in a two-dimensional Fermi gas

In a recent experiment [Vogt et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 070404 (2012)], quadrupole and breathing modes of a two-dimensional Fermi gas were studied. We model these collective modes by solving the Boltzmann equation via the method of phase-space moments up to fourth order, including in-medium effects on the scattering cross section. In our analysis, we use a realistic Gaussian potential deformed by the presence of gravity and magnetic field gradients. We conclude that the origin of the experimentally observed damping of the quadrupole mode, especially in the weakly interacting (or even noninteracting) case, cannot be explained by these mechanisms.

Light clusters in nuclear matter and the “pasta” phase

The effects of including light clusters in nuclear matter at low densities are investigated within four different parametrizations of relativistic models at finite temperature. Both homogeneous and inhomogeneous matter (pasta phase) are described for neutral nuclear matter with fixed proton fractions. We discuss the effect of the density dependence of the symmetry energy, the temperature and the proton fraction on the non-homogeneous matter forming the inner crust of proto-neutron stars. It is shown that the number of nucleons in the clusters, the cluster proton fraction and the sizes of the Wigner Seitz cell and of the cluster are very sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry energy.

Trap anharmonicity and sloshing mode of a Fermi gas

For a gas trapped in a harmonic potential, the sloshing (or Kohn) mode is undamped and its frequency coincides with the trap frequency, independently of the statistics, interaction and temperature of the gas. However, experimental trap potentials have usually Gaussian shape and anharmonicity effects appear as the temperature and, in the case of Fermions, the filling of the trap are increased. We study the sloshing mode of a degenerate Fermi gas in an anharmonic trap within the Boltzmann equation, including in-medium effects in both the transport and collision terms. The calculated frequency shifts and damping rates of the sloshing mode due to the trap anharmonicity are in satisfactory agreement with the available experimental data. We also discuss higher-order dipole, octupole, and bending modes and show that the damping of the sloshing mode is caused by its coupling to these modes.

Nature of phase transitions in Axelrod-like coupled Potts models in two dimensions.

We study F coupled q-state Potts models in a two-dimensional square lattice. The interaction between the different layers is attractive to favor a simultaneous alignment in all of them, and its strength is fixed. The nature of the phase transition for zero field is numerically determined for F = 2,3. Using the Lee-Kosterlitz method, we find that it is continuous for F = 2 and q = 2, whereas it is abrupt for higher values of q and/or F. When a continuous or a weakly first-order phase transition takes place, we also analyze the properties of the geometrical clusters. This allows us to determine the fractal dimension D of the incipient infinite cluster and to examine the finite-size scaling of the cluster number density via data collapse. A mean-field approximation of the model, from which some general trends can be determined, is presented too. Finally, since this lattice model has been recently considered as a thermodynamic counterpart of the Axelrod model of social dynamics, we discuss our results in connection with this one.

Boltzmann equation with double-well potentials

We study the dynamics of an interacting classical gas trapped in a double-well potential at finite temperature. Two model potentials are considered: a cubic box with a square barrier in the middle, and a harmonic trap with a gaussian barrier along one direction. The study is performed using the Boltzmann equation, solved numerically via the test-particle method. We introduce and discuss a simple analytical model that allows to provide estimates of the relaxation time, which are compared with numerical results. Finally, we use our findings to make numerical and analytical predictions for the case of a fermionic mixture in the normal-fluid phase in a realistic double-well potential relevant for experiments with cold atoms.

Pasta phases in core-collapse supernova matter

The pasta phase in core-collapse supernova matter (finite temperatures and fixed proton fractions) is studied within relativistic mean field models. Three different calculations are used for comparison, the Thomas-Fermi (TF), the Coexisting Phases (CP) and the Compressible Liquid Drop (CLD) approximations. The effects of including light clusters in nuclear matter and the densities at which the transitions between pasta configurations and to uniform matter occur are also investigated. The free energy and pressure, in the space of particle number densities and temperatures expected to cover the pasta region, are calculated. Finally, a comparison with a finite temperature Skyrme-Hartree-Fock calculation is drawn.