Related papers: Thermodynamics of nuclear condensates and phase tr…
We consider a high density region of the helium phase diagram, where the nuclei form a Bose-Einstein condensate rather than a classical plasma or a crystal. Helium in this phase may be present in helium-core white dwarfs. We show that in…
We build a predictive theory for the evolution of mixture of helium and supercooled helium at low temperature. The absolute temperature and the volume fraction of helium, which is dominant at temperature larger than the phase change…
We calculate the grand canonical partition function at the one-loop level for scalar quantum electrodynamics at finite temperature and chemical potential. A classical background charge density with a charge opposite that of the scalars…
We study first order phase transitions that occur when the temperature of the system increases and we identify the conditions that lead to super-heating, a phase where the system can heat up arbitrarily. First order phase transitions with…
The atmospheres of cool, helium-rich white dwarfs constitute an exotic and poorly explored physical regime of stellar atmospheres. Under physical conditions where the temperature varies from $\rm 1000K$ to $\rm 10000K$, the density can…
Reliable modeling of the atmospheres of cool white dwarfs is crucial for understanding the atmospheric evolution of these stars and for accurate white dwarfs cosmochronology. Over the last decade {\it ab initio} modeling entered many…
We study the thermodynamics of clean, layered superconductor/ferromagnet nanostructures using fully self consistent methods to solve the microscopic Bogoliubov-deGennes equations. From these self-consistent solutions the condensation free…
Accurate models of cooling white dwarfs must treat the energy released as their cores crystallize. This phase transition slows the cooling by releasing latent heat and also gravitational energy, which results from phase separation: liquid C…
In this thesis the finite temperature transition between confined and deconfined matter is studied at zero and nonzero quark densities. The findings are relevant for the understanding of the evolution of the early Universe and contemporary…
White dwarfs are stellar embers depleted of nuclear energy sources that cool over billions of years. These stars, which are supported by electron degeneracy pressure, reach densities of 1e7 grams per cubic centimetre in their cores. It has…
The continuous cooling of a white dwarf is punctuated by events that affect its cooling rate. Probably the most significant of those is the crystallization of its core, a phase transition that occurs once the C/O interior has cooled down…
Cosmological phase transitions are predicted by Particle Physics models, and have a variety of important cosmological consequences, which depend strongly on the dynamics of the transition. In this work we investigate in detail the general…
We consider the scalar sector of the most general renormalizable two-Higgs-doublet model at non-zero temperature. We calculate the largest finite temperature corrections to the free-energy density and study thermal evolution of the ground…
We study the thermodynamics of clean structures composed of superconductor (S) and ferromagnet (F) layers and consisting of one or more SFS junctions. We use fully self consistent numerical methods to compute the condensation free energies…
Thermal evolution of the central region of a $0.9 \, M_\odot$ C/O white dwarf at the initial stage of the ion mixture crystallization is studied by numerically solving the heat equation on a fine spatial and temporal grid and by including a…
Experimental nuclear level densities at excitation energies below the neutron threshold follow closely a constant-temperature shape. This dependence is unexpected and poorly understood. In this work, a fundamental explanation of the…
White dwarfs, the extremely dense remnants left behind by most stars after their death, are characterised by a mass comparable to that of the Sun compressed into the size of an Earth-like planet. In the resulting strong gravity, heavy…
I use simple thermodynamic reasoning to argue that at temperatures of order a trillion kelvin, QCD, the theory which describes strongly interacting particles such as protons and neutrons under normal conditions, undergoes a phase transition…
White dwarf stars composed of carbon, oxygen or heavier elements are expected to crystallize as they cool down below certain temperatures. Yet, simple arguments suggest that the helium white dwarf cores may not solidify, mostly because of…
We present new cooling sequences, color-magnitude diagrams, and color-color diagrams for cool white dwarfs with pure hydrogen atmospheres down to an effective temperature $\te=1500$ K. We include a more detailed treatment of the physics of…