Related papers: Diffusion in Coulomb Crystals
Diffusion coefficients for crystallized Coulomb plasmas are essential microphysics input for modeling white dwarf cores and neutron star crusts but are poorly understood. In this work we present a model for diffusion in Coulomb crystals. We…
We analyze diffusion equations in strongly coupled Coulomb mixtures of ions in dense stellar matter. Strong coupling of ions in the presence of gravitational forces and electric fields (induced by plasma polarization in the presence of…
Near-equilibrium bottom-up crystallization of fully-ionized neutron star crusts or white dwarf cores is considered. We argue that this process is similar to liquid-phase epitaxial (i.e. preserving order of previous layers) crystal growth or…
Quantum corrections can be important for diffusion and the melting temperature of dense plasmas in compact astrophysical objects, particulary white dwarfs and neutron stars. Typically ions in these systems are modeled classically, but…
Observations of galactic white dwarfs with Gaia have allowed for unprecedented modeling of white dwarf cooling, resolving core crystallization and sedimentary heating from neutron rich nuclei. These cooling sequences are sensitive to the…
It is generally accepted that the Coulomb crystal model can be used to describe matter in the neutron star crust. In [1] we study the properties of deformed Coulomb crystals and how their stability depends on the polarization of the…
Coulomb plasmas crystallize in a number of physical systems, such as dusty plasmas, neutron star crusts, and white dwarf cores. The crystal structure of the one component and binary plasma has received significant attention in the…
We study breaking properties of a solid neutron star crust. We consider the case in which the crust at any fixed density consists of two types ions, forming a strongly ordered Coulomb crystal. It is shown that the breaking stress of a such…
The analysis of Coulomb crystallization is extended from one-component to two-component plasmas. Critical parameters for the existence of Coulomb crystals are derived for both classical and quantum crystals. In the latter case, a critical…
Using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations and a bond-counting ansatz, thermal stability and diffusion of an adatom island on a crystal surface are studied. At low temperatures, the diffusion constant $D$ is found to decrease for a wide range of…
Equilibrium phase diagrams for neutron star matter at subnuclear densities are obtained at zero temperature. Spherical, rod-like and slab-like nuclei as well as spherical and rod-like nuclear bubbles are taken into account by using a…
We study breaking stress of deformed Coulomb crystals in a neutron star crust, taking into account electron plasma screening of ion-ion interaction; calculated breaking stress is fitted as a function of electron screening parameter. We…
Background: Neutron stars are astronomical systems with nucleons submitted to extreme conditions. Due to the longer range coulomb repulsion between protons, the system has structural inhomogeneities. Several interactions tailored to…
The elasticity of neutron star crust is important for adequate interpretation of observations. To describe elastic properties one should rely on theoretical models. The most widely used is Coulomb crystal model (system of point-like charges…
Crystallization of dense matter in neutron star crusts and white dwarf cores may be similar to epitaxial crystal growth in terrestrial laboratories. However in stellar crystals, the spacing between horizontal planes has to gradually…
Thermal and electric conductivities of relativistic degenerate electrons are calculated for the case when electrons scatter by phonons in Coulomb crystals made of spherical finite--size nuclei at densities $10^{11}$~g/cm$^3 < \rho <…
The outer layers of a neutron star are supposed to be formed of a solid Coulomb lattice of neutron rich nuclei. At densities above neutron drip density (about one thousandth of nuclear saturation density), this lattice is immersed in a…
We use Molecular Dynamics simulations to study the formation and stability of single and multicomponent lattices in the outer crust of Neutron Stars. Including an improved treatment for Gaussian charge distributions of ions we obtain the…
We study the role the proton-electron gas interaction has on the formation of nuclear structures in neutron star crusts. Using a classical molecular dynamics model we study isospin symmetric and asymmetric matter at subsaturation densities…
Diffusion coefficients are essential microphysics input for modeling white dwarf evolution, as they impact phase separation at crystallization and sedimentary heat sources. Present schemes for computing diffusion coefficients are accurate…