Plasmon excitations in homogeneous neutron-star matter

We study the possible collective plasma modes which can affect neutron-star thermodynamics and different elementary processes in the baryonic density range between nuclear saturation ρ ₀ and 3 ρ ₀. In this region, the expected constituents of neutron-star matter are mainly neutrons, protons, electrons, and muons ( npeµ matter), under the constraint of beta equilibrium. The elementary plasma excitations of the peµ three-fluid medium are studied in the RPA framework. We emphasize the relevance of the Coulomb interaction among the three species, in particular, the interplay of the electron and muon screening in suppressing the possible proton plasma mode, which is converted into a sound-like mode. The Coulomb interaction alone is able to produce a variety of excitation branches and the full spectral function shows a rich structure at different energy. The genuine plasmon mode is pushed at high energy and it contains mainly an electron component with a substantial muon component, which increases with density. The plasmon is undamped for not too large momentum and is expected to be hardly affected by the nuclear interaction. All the other branches, which fall below the plasmon, are damped or over-damped.