How accurately can the Extended Thomas-Fermi method describe the inner crust of a neutron star?
Abstract
We perform a systematic comparison between the results obtained by solving fully self-consistently the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equations, and those obtained using the semi-classical Extended Thomas-Fermi method, for various Wigner-Seitz cells within the inner crust of a neutron star. The lack of pairing correlations in the semi-classical approach leads to a large discrepancy between the two approaches. This discrepancy is well beyond the error of the quantum-mechanical calculation, and is related to spurious shell effects in the neutron gas.
- Publication:
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Journal of Physics Conference Series
- Pub Date:
- October 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1088/1742-6596/1668/1/012037
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2002.01839
- Bibcode:
- 2020JPhCS1668a2037S
- Keywords:
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- Nuclear Theory
- E-Print:
- 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Physics: Conference Series