arXiv subjects

Armen Sedrakian

Publications and source records attributed to Armen Sedrakian.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Conventional and Unconventional Pairing and Condensates in Dilute Nuclear Matter

This contribution will survey recent progress toward an understanding of diverse pairing phenomena in dilute nuclear matter at small and moderate isospin asymmetry, with results of potential relevance to supernova envelopes and proto-neutron stars. Application of {\it ab initio} many-body techniques has revealed a rich array of temperature-density phase diagrams, indexed by isospin asymmetry, which feature both conventional and unconventional superfluid phases. At low density there exist a homogeneous translationally invariant BCS phase, a homogeneous LOFF phase violating translational invariance, and an inhomogeneous translationally invariant phase-separated BCS phase. The transition from the BCS to the BEC phases is characterized in terms of the evolution, from weak to strong coupling, of the pairing gap, condensate wave function, and quasiparticle occupation numbers and spectra. Additionally, a schematic formal analysis of pairing in neutron matter at low to moderate densities is presented that establishes conditions for the emergence of both conventional and unconventional pairing solutions and encompasses the possibility of dineutron formation.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2016

Spin-polarized neutron matter: Critical unpairing and BCS-BEC precursor

We obtain the critical magnetic field required for complete destruction of $S$-wave pairing in neutron matter, thereby setting limits on the pairing and superfluidity of neutrons in the crust and outer core of magnetars. We find that for fields $B \ge 10^{17}$ G the neutron fluid is non-superfluid -- if weaker spin-1 superfluidity does not intervene -- a result with profound consequences for the thermal, rotational, and oscillatory behavior of magnetars. Because the dineutron is not bound in vacuum, cold dilute neutron matter cannot exhibit a proper BCS-BEC crossover. Nevertheless, owing to the strongly resonant behavior of the $nn$ interaction at low densities, neutron matter shows a precursor of the BEC state, as manifested in Cooper-pair correlation lengths {being} comparable to the interparticle distance. We make a systematic quantitative study of this type of BCS-BEC crossover in the presence of neutron fluid spin-polarization induced by an ultra-strong magnetic field. We evaluate the Cooper pair wave-function, quasiparticle occupation numbers, and quasiparticle spectra for densities and temperatures spanning the BCS-BEC crossover region. The phase diagram of spin-polarized neutron matter is constructed and explored at different polarizations.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2015

Spin diffusive modes and thermal transport in neutron star crusts

In this contribution we first review a method for obtaining the collective modes of pair-correlated neutron matter as found in a neutron star inner crust. We discuss two classes of modes corresponding to density and spin perturbations with energy spectra $ω= ω_0 + αq^2$, where $ω_0 = 2Δ$ is the threshold frequency and $Δ$ is the gap in the neutron fluid spectrum. For characteristic values of Landau parameters in neutron star crusts the exitonic density modes have $α< 0$, therefore they live below the pair-breaking continuum $ω_0$ and are undamped. For spin diffusive modes $α> 0$ and they exist above $ω_0$ which implies that these modes are damped. As an application of these findings we compute the thermal conductivity due to spin diffusive modes and show that it scales as $T^{1/2} \exp(-2ω_0/T)$ in the case where their two-by-two scattering cross-section is weakly dependent on temperature.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2015

Magnetar superconductivity versus magnetism: neutrino cooling processes

We describe the microphysics, phenomenology, and astrophysical implication of a $B$-field induced unpairing effect that may occur in magnetars, if the local $B$-field in the core of a magnetar exceeds a critical value $H_{c2}$. Using the Ginzburg-Landau theory of superconductivity, we derive the $H_{c2}$ field for proton condensate taking into the correction ($\le 30\%$) which arises from its coupling to the background neutron condensate. The density dependence of pairing of proton condensate implies that $H_{c2}$ is maximal at the crust-core interface and decreases towards the center of the star. As a consequence, magnetar cores with homogenous constant fields will be partially superconducting for "medium-field" magnetars ($10^{15}\le B\le 5 \times 10^{16}$ G) whereas "strong-field" magnetars ($B>5\times 10^{16}$ G) will be void of superconductivity. The neutrino emissivity of a magnetar's core changes in a twofold manner: (i)~the $B$-field assisted direct Urca process is enhanced by orders of magnitude, because of the unpairing effect in regions where $B\ge H_{c2}$; (ii)~the Cooper-pair breaking processes on protons vanish in these regions and the overall emissivity by the pair-breaking processes is reduced by a factor of only a few.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

BCS-BEC crossovers and unconventional phases in dilute nuclear matter

We study the phase diagram of isospin-asymmetrical nuclear matter in the density-temperature plane, allowing for four competing phases of nuclear matter: (i) the unpaired phase, (ii) the translationally and rotationally symmetric, but isospin-asymmetrical BCS condensate, (iii) the current-carrying Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell phase, and (iv) the heterogeneous phase-separated phase. The phase diagram of nuclear matter composed of these phases features two tri-critical points in general, as well as crossovers from the asymmetrical BCS phase to a BEC of deuterons plus a neutron gas, both for the homogeneous superfluid phase (at high temperatures) and for the heterogeneous phase (at low temperatures). The BCS-BEC type crossover in the condensate occurs as the density is reduced. We analyze in detail some intrinsic properties of these phases, including the Cooper-pair wave function, the coherence length, the occupation numbers of majority and minority nucleonic components, and the dispersion relations of quasiparticle excitations about the ground state. We show by explicit examples that the physics of the individual phases and the transition from weak to strong coupling can be well understood by tracing the behavior of these quantities.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2014

Transport coefficients of two-flavor superconducting quark matter

Background: The two-flavor color superconducting (2SC) phase of quark matter is a possible constituent of the core of neutron stars. To assess its impact on the observable behavior of the star one must analyze transport properties, which in 2SC matter are controlled by the scattering of gapless fermionic modes by each other and possibly also by color-magnetic flux tubes. Purpose: We determine the electrical and thermal conductivities and the shear viscosity of 2SC matter. Methods: We use a variational formulation of transport theory, treating the strong and electromagnetic interactions via a weak coupling expansion. Results: We provide the leading order scaling of the transport coefficients with temperature and chemical potential as well as accurate fits to our numerical results. We also find that the scattering of fermions by color-magnetic flux tubes is insignificant for thermal conductivity, but may contribute to the electrical conductivity and shear viscosity in the limit of very low temperature or high magnetic field. We also estimate the transport coefficients in unpaired quark matter. Conclusions: Our calculation has set the stage for exploration of possible signatures of the presence of 2SC quark matter in neutron stars.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Upper critical field and (non)-superconductivity of magnetars

We construct equilibrium models of compact stars using a realistic equation of state and obtain the density range occupied by the proton superconductor in strong $B$-fields. We do so by combining the density profiles of our models with microscopic calculations of proton pairing gaps and the critical unpairing field $H_{c2}$ above which the proton type-II superconductivity is destroyed. We find that magnetars with interior homogeneous field within the range $0.1 \le B_{16}\le 2$, where $B_{16} = B/10^{16}$ G, are partially superconducting, whereas those with $B_{16} > 2$ are void of superconductivity. We briefly discuss the neutrino emissivity and superfluid dynamics of magnetars in the light of their (non)-superconductivity.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2014

Constraining hypernuclear density functional with $Λ$-hypernuclei and compact stars

We present a simultaneous calculation of heavy single-$Λ$ hypernuclei and compact stars containing hypernuclear core within a relativistic density functional theory based on a Lagrangian which includes the hyperon octet and lightest isoscalar-isovector mesons which couple to baryons with density-dependent couplings. The corresponding density functional allows for SU(6) symmetry breaking and mixing in the isoscalar sector, whereby the departures in the $σ$-$Λ$ and $σ$-$Σ$ couplings away from their values implied by the SU(3) symmetric model are used to adjust the theory to the laboratory and astronomical data. We fix $σ$-$Λ$ coupling using the data on the single-$Λ$ hypernuclei and derive an upper bound on the $σ$-$Σ$ from the requirement that the lower bound on the maximum mass of a compact star is $2 M_{\odot}$.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2014

Rotating hybrid compact stars

Starting from equations of state of nucleonic and color-superconducting quark matter and assuming a first-order phase transition between these, we construct an equation of state of stellar matter, which contains three phases: a nucleonic phase, as well as two-flavor and three-flavor color-superconducting phases of quarks. Static sequences of the corresponding hybrid stars include massive members with masses of $\sim 2 M_{\odot}$ and radii in the range of $13< R < 16$ km. We investigate the integral parameters of rapidly rotating stars and obtain evolutionary sequences that correspond to constant rest-mass stars spinning down by electromagnetic and gravitational radiation. Physically new transitional sequences are revealed that are distinguished by a phase transition from nucleonic to color-superconducting matter for some configurations that are located between the static and Keplerian limits. The snapshots of internal structure of the star, displaying the growth or shrinkage of superconducting volume as the star's spin changes, are displayed for constant rest mass stars. We further obtain evolutionary sequences of rotating supramassive compact stars and construct pre-collapse models that can be used as initial data to simulate a collapse of color-superconducting hybrid stars to a black hole.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2014

EMMI Rapid Reaction Task Force Meeting on 'Quark Matter in Compact Star'

The recent measurement of two solar mass pulsars has initiated an intense discussion on its impact on our understanding of the high-density matter in the cores of neutron stars. A task force meeting was held from October 7-10, 2013 at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies to address the presence of quark matter in these massive stars. During this meeting, the recent oservational astrophysical data and heavy-ion data was reviewed. The possibility of pure quark stars, hybrid stars and the nature of the QCD phase transition were discussed and their observational signals delineated.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Inhomogeneous condensates in dilute nuclear matter and BCS-BEC crossovers

We report on recent progress in understanding pairing phenomena in low-density nuclear matter at small and moderate isospin asymmetry. A rich phase diagram has been found comprising various superfluid phases that include a homogeneous and phase-separated BEC phase of deuterons at low density and a homogeneous BCS phase, an inhomogeneous LOFF phase, and a phase-separated BCS phase at higher densities. The transition from the BEC phases to the BCS phases is characterized in terms of the evolution, from strong to weak coupling, of the condensate wavefunction and the second moment of its density distribution in $r$-space. We briefly discuss approaches to higher-order clustering in low-density nuclear matter.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2014

Equation of state of hypernuclear matter: tuning hyperon--scalar-meson couplings

We discuss to which extent the modifications of the hyperon--scalar-meson coupling constants affect the equation of state (EoS) hypernuclear matter. The study is carried out within a relativistic density functional theory. The nucleonic matter is described in terms of a density-dependent parametrization of nucleon-meson couplings, whereas the hyperon--meson couplings are deduced from the octet model. We identify the parameter space of hyperon-meson couplings for which massive stellar configurations with $M\le 2.25 M_{\odot}$ exist. We also discuss the EoS at finite temperatures with and without of a trapped neutrino component and show that neutrinos stiffen the EoS and change qualitatively the composition of stellar matter.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2013

Chiral pions in a magnetic background

We investigate the modification of the pion self-energy at finite temperature due to its interaction with a low-density, isospin-symmetric nuclear medium embedded in a constant magnetic background. To one loop, for fixed temperature and density, we find that the pion effective mass increases with the magnetic field. For the $π^{-}$, interestingly, this happens solely due to the trivial Landau quantization shift $\sim |eB|$, since the real part of the self-energy is negative in this case. In a scenario in which other charged particle species are present and undergo an analogous trivial shift, the relevant behavior of the effective mass might be determined essentially by the real part of the self-energy. In this case, we find that the pion mass decreases by $\sim 10%$ for a magnetic field $|eB|\sim m_π^2$, which favors pion condensation at high density and low temperatures.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2013

Rapid cooling of the compact star in Cassiopea A as a phase transition in dense QCD

We present a model of the compact star in Cassiopea A that accounts for its unusually fast cooling behavior. This feature is interpreted as an enhancement in the neutrino emission triggered by a transition from a fully gapped, two-flavor, color-superconducting phase to a crystalline phase or an alternative gapless, color-superconducting phase. By fine-tuning a single parameter -- the temperature of this transition -- a specific cooling scenario can be selected that fits the Cas A data. Such a scenario requires a massive $M\sim 2M_{\odot}$ star and is, therefore, distinctive from models invoking canonical 1.4 $M_{\odot}$ mass star with nucleonic pairing alone.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2013

Leading-order nucleon self-energy in relativistic chiral effective field theory

We apply thermal field theory methods to compute microscopically the nucleon self-energy arising from one-pion exchange in isospin-symmetric nuclear matter and neutron matter. A self-consistent numerical scheme is introduced and its convergence is demonstrated. The repulsive contribution from the Fock exchange diagram to the energy per nucleon in symmetric nuclear matter is obtained.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2013

Strange quark matter in strong magnetic fields within a confining model

We construct an equation of state of strange quark matter in strong magnetic field within a confining model. The confinement is modeled by means of the Richardson potential for quark-quark interaction modified suitably to account for strong magnetic field. We compare our results for the equation of state and magnetization of matter to those derived within the MIT bag model. The differences between these models arise mainly due to the momentum dependence of the strong interaction between quarks in the Richardson model. Specifically, we find that the magnetization of strange quark matter in this model has much more pronounced de Haas-van Alfven oscillations than in the MIT bag model, which is the consequence of the (static) gluon-exchange structure of the confining potential.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2013

Equation of state of hypernuclear matter: impact of hyperon--scalar-meson couplings

We study the equation of state and composition of hypernuclear matter within a relativistic density functional theory with density-dependent couplings. The parameter space of hyperon--scalar-meson couplings is explored by allowing for mixing and breaking of SU(6) symmetry, while keeping the nucleonic couplings constant fixed. The subset of equations of state, which corresponds to small values of hyperon--scalar-meson couplings allows for massive M < 2.25 M_solar compact stars; the radii of hypernuclear stars are within the range 12--14 km. We also study the equation of state of hot neutrino-rich and neutrinoless hypernuclear matter and confirm that neutrinos stiffen the equation of state and dramatically change the composition of matter by keeping the fractions of charged leptons nearly independent of the density prior to the onset of neutrino transparency. We provide piecewise polytropic fits to six representative equations of state of hypernuclear matter, which are suitable for applications in numerical astrophysics.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2013

Response functions of cold neutron matter: density, spin and current fluctuations

We study the response of a single-component pair-correlated baryonic Fermi-liquid to density, spin, and their current perturbations. A complete set of response functions is derived in the low-temperature regime both within an effective theory based on a small momentum transfer expansion and within a numerical scheme valid for arbitrary momentum transfers. A comparison of these two approaches validates the perturbative approximation within the domain of its convergence. We derive the spectral functions of collective excitations associated with the density, density-current, spin, and spin-current perturbations. The dispersion relations of density and spin fluctuations are derived and it is shown that the density fluctuations lead to exciton-like undamped bound states, whereas the spin excitations correspond to diffusive modes above the pair-breaking threshold. The contribution of the collective pair-breaking modes to the specific heat of neutron matter at subnuclear densities is computed and is shown to be comparable to that of the degenerate electron gas at not too low temperatures.

nucl-th↗