English

Spin-polarized phases of $^3P_2$ superfluids in neutron stars

Nuclear Theory 2021-10-14 v1 Superconductivity

Abstract

The interior of a neutron star is expected to be occupied by a neutron 3P2^3P_2 superfluid, which is the condensate of spin-triplet pp-wave Cooper pairs of neutrons with total angular momentum J=2J=2. Here we investigate the thermodynamic stability of 3P2^3P_2 superfluids in a neutron-star interior under a strong magnetic field. Using the theory incorporating the finite size correction of neutron Fermi surface, we show that the spin-polarized phases of 3P2^3P_2 superfluids, the magnetized biaxial nematic phase and the ferromagnetic phase, appear in high temperatures and high magnetic fields. These phases were missed in the previous studies using the quasiclassical approximation in which dispersions of neutrons are linearized around the Fermi surface. In particular, the ferromagnetic phase, which is the condensation of Cooper-paired neutrons with fully polarized spins, appears between the normal phase and the biaxial nematic phase and enlarge the thermodynamic stability of 3P2^3P_2 superfluids under strong magnetic fields. Furthermore, we present the augmented Ginzburg-Landau theory that incorporates the thermodynamic stability of spin-polarized 3P2^3P_2 superfluid phases.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2108.01256,
  title  = {Spin-polarized phases of $^3P_2$ superfluids in neutron stars},
  author = {Takeshi Mizushima and Shigehiro Yasui and Daisuke Inotani and Muneto Nitta},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2108.01256},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

14 pages, 5 figures