arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to F. Weber.
We show that the superconducting energy gap $Δ$ can be directly observed in phonon spectra, as predicted by recent theories. In addition, since each phonon probes the gap on only a small part of the Fermi surface, the gap anisotropy can be studied in detail. Our neutron scattering investigation of the anisotropic conventional superconductor YNi$_2$B$_2$C demonstrates this new application of phonon spectroscopy.
Neutron stars contain matter in one of the densest forms found in the Universe. This feature, together with the unprecedented progress in observational astrophysics, makes such stars superb astrophysical laboratories for a broad range of exciting physical studies. This paper gives an overview of the phases of dense matter predicted to make their appearance in the cores of neutron stars. Particular emphasis is put on the role of strangeness. Net strangeness is carried by hyperons, K-mesons, H-dibaryons, and strange quark matter, and may leave its mark in the masses, radii, moment of inertia, dragging of local inertial frames, cooling behavior, surface composition, and the spin evolution of neutron stars. These observables play a key role for the exploration of the phase diagram of dense nuclear matter at high baryon number density but low temperature, which is not accessible to relativistic heavy ion collision experiments.
There has been much recent progress in our understanding of quark matter, culminating in the discovery that if such matter exists in the cores of neutron stars it ought to be in a color superconducting state. This paper explores the impact of superconducting quark matter on the properties (e.g., masses, radii, surface gravity, photon emission) of compact stars.
A forefront area of research concerns the exploration of the properties of hadronic matter under extreme conditions of temperature and density, and the determination of the equation of state--the relation between pressure, temperature and density--of such matter. Experimentally, relativistic heavy-ion collision experiments enable physicists to cast a brief glance at hot and ultra-dense matter for times as little as about $10^{-22}$ seconds. Complementary to this, the matter that exists in the cores of neutron stars, observed as radio pulsars, X-ray pulsars, and magnetars, is at low temperatures but compressed permanently to ultra-high densities that may be more than an order of magnitude higher than the density of atomic nuclei. This makes pulsars superb astrophysical laboratories for medium and high-energy nuclear physics, as discussed in this paper.
We summarize masses and radii for a number of white dwarfs as deduced from a combination of proper motion studies, Hipparcos parallax distances, effective temperatures, and binary or spectroscopic masses. A puzzling feature of these data is that some stars appear to have radii which are significantly smaller than that expected for a standard electron-degenerate white-dwarf equations of state. We construct a projection of white-dwarf radii for fixed effective mass and conclude that there is at least marginal evidence for bimodality in the radius distribution forwhite dwarfs. We argue that if such compact white dwarfs exist it is unlikely that they contain an iron core. We propose an alternative of strange-quark matter within the white-dwarf core. We also discuss the impact of the so-called color-flavor locked (CFL) state in strange-matter core associated with color superconductivity. We show that the data exhibit several features consistent with the expected mass-radius relation of strange dwarfs. We identify eight nearby white dwarfs which are possible candidates for strange matter cores and suggest observational tests of this hypothesis.
A new scheme for testing nuclear matter equations of state (EsoS) at high densities using constraints from neutron star phenomenology and a flow data analysis of heavy-ion collisions is suggested. An acceptable EoS shall not allow the direct Urca process to occur in neutron stars with masses below $1.5~M_{\odot}$, and also shall not contradict flow and kaon production data of heavy-ion collisions. Compact star constraints include the mass measurements of 2.1 +/- 0.2 M_sun (1 sigma level) for PSR J0751+1807, of 2.0 +/- 0.1 M_sun from the innermost stable circular orbit for 4U 1636-536, the baryon mass - gravitational mass relationships from Pulsar B in J0737-3039 and the mass-radius relationships from quasiperiodic brightness oscillations in 4U 0614+09 and from the thermal emission of RX J1856-3754. This scheme is applied to a set of relativistic EsoS constrained otherwise from nuclear matter saturation properties with the result that no EoS can satisfy all constraints simultaneously, but those with density-dependent masses and coupling constants appear most promising.
Using Angle-Resolved Photoemission (ARPES), we present the first observation of sharp quasiparticle-like peaks in a CMR manganite. We focus on the ($π$,0) regions of k-space and study their electronic scattering rates and dispersion kinks, uncovering the critical energy scales, momentum scales, and strengths of the interactions that renormalize the electrons. To identify these bosons we measured phonon dispersions in the energy range of the kink by inelastic neutron scattering (INS), finding a good match in both energy and momentum to the oxygen bond-stretching phonons.
We construct self-consistent equilibrium sequences of general relativistic, rotating neutron star models. Special emphasis in put on the determination of the maximum rotation frequency of such objects. Recently proposed models for the equation of state of neutron star matter are employed, which are derived by describing the hadronic phase within the many-body Brueckner--Bethe--Goldstone formalism, and the quark matter phase within the MIT bag model using a density dependent bag constant. We find that the rotational frequencies of neutron stars with deconfined quark phases in their cores rival those of absolutely stable, self-bound strange quark matter stars. This finding is of central importance for the interpretation of extremely rapidly rotating pulsars, which are the targets of present pulsar surveys.
We explore the impact of in-medium modification of the properties of vector mesons on the nuclear equation of state and neutron star properties. It is found that in-medium modifications stiffen the nuclear equation of state considerably. If this feature has its correspondence in the full treatment of dense hadronic matter, then very little room is left for the existence of exotic phases like quark matter or boson condensates in the centers of neutron stars of canonical mass.
We comment on the paper by Tanusri Ghosh and Somenath Chakrabarty, Phys. Rev. D63, 043006 (2001). In that paper it was argued that a first-order transition to quark matter in the core of a magnetar is absolutely forbidden if its magnetic field strength exceeds $10^{15}$ G. However, we show in this comment that if the quark anomalous magnetic moment and the population of higher Landau levels is taken into account, it may still be possible for a first-order phase transition from nuclear matter to quark matter to occur in the core of a magnetar. These effects may also obscure the question of whether beta equilibrium favors strange quark matter in the core of a magnetar.
A neutron star in binary orbit with a low-mass non-degenerate companion becomes a source of x-rays with millisecond variability when mass accretion spins it up. Centrifugally driven changes in density profile may initiate a phase transition in a growing region of the core parallel to what may take place in an isolated millisecond pulsar, but in reverse. Such a star will spend a longer time in the spin frequency range over which the transition occurs than elsewhere because the change of phase, paced by the spinup rate, is accompanied by a growth in the moment of inertia. The population of accreters will exhibit a clustering in the critical frequency range. A phase change triggered by changing spin and the accompanying adjustment of moment of inertia has its analogue in rotating nuclei.
We study the spin evolution of X-ray neutron stars in binary systems, which are being spun up by mass transfer from accretion disks. Our investigation reveals that a quark phase transition resulting from the changing central density induced by the changing spin, can lead to a pronounced peak in the frequency distribution of X-ray neutron stars. This finding provides one of several possible explanations available in the literature, or at least a contributor to part of the observed anomalous frequency distribution of neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), which lie in a narrow band centered at about 300 Hz, as found by the Rossi Explorer (RXTE).
It is shown that the modern equations of state for neutron star matter based on microscopic calculations of symmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter are compatible with the lower bound on the maximum neutron-star mass for a certain range of hyperon coupling constants, which are constrained by the binding energies of hyperons in symmetric nuclear matter. The hyperons are included by means of the relativistic Hartree-- or Hartree--Fock approximation. The obtained couplings are also in satisfactory agreement with hypernuclei data in the relativistic Hartree scheme. Within the relativistic Hartree--Fock approximation hypernuclei have not been investigated so far.
The possibility of a neutron m=2-superfluid in the interior of neutron stars is investigated. This pairing state is energetically favoured in strong magnetic fields ($H\sim 10^{16}-10^{17}$ G). Because of the node in the angular-dependent energy gap along the field direction the neutrino emissivity is only suppressed polynomially as function in $T/T_{c}$ instead of exponentially, as it is obtained for a nodeless pairing state. The effect of this pairing state on the thermal evolution of neutron stars is studied, and its outcome is compared with the evolution of ``normal'', i.e. nodeless, superfluid and non-superfluid neutron stars, and also with observations. We find that particularly the predicted surface temperatures of the enhanced cooling scenario considerably change and come into agreement with temperatures deduced from observational data within the hydrogen atmosphere model. Furthermore the surface temperature depends on the magnetic field strength as an additional parameter aside from the neutron star mass. The latter is however only operative in the case of the intermediate cooling scenario.
The properties of hot matter are studied in the frame of the relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock theory. The equations are solved self-consistently in the full Dirac space. For the interaction we used the potentials given by Brockmann and Machleidt. The obtained critical temperatures are smaller than in most of the nonrelativistic investigations. We also calculated the thermodynamic properties of hot matter in the relativistic Hartree--Fock approximation, where the force parameters were adjusted to the outcome of the relativistic Brueckner--Hartree--Fock calculations at zero temperature. Here, one obtains higher critical temperatures, which are comparable with other relativistic calculations in the Hartree scheme.
We study the properties of static and rotating neutron stars adopting non-relativistic equations of state (EOS) for asymmetric nuclear matter based on the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock (BHF) scheme. The BHF calculation, with the continuous choice for the single particle potential, appears to be very close to the full EOS, which includes the three-hole line contribution calculated by solving the Bethe-Fadeev equations within the gap choice for the single particle potential. Three-body forces are included in order to reproduce the correct saturation point for nuclear matter. A comparison with fully relativistic many-body calculations of nuclear matter EOS is made.
We study the properties of neutron stars adopting relativistic equations of state of neutron star matter, calculated in the framework of the relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approximation for electrically charge neutral neutron star matter in beta-equilibrium. For higher densities more baryons (hyperons etc.) are included by means of the relativistic Hartree- or Hartree-Fock approximation. The special features of the different approximations and compositions are discussed in detail. Besides standard neutron star properties special emphasis is put on the limiting periods of neutron stars, for which the Kepler criterion and gravitation-reaction instabilities are considered. Furthermore the cooling behaviour of neutron stars is investigated, too. For comparison we give also the outcome for some nonrelativistic equations of state.
The general statement that strange stars cool more rapidly than neutron stars is investigated in greater detail. It is found that the direct Urca process could be forbidden not only in neutron stars but also in strange stars. If so, strange stars would be slowly cooling and their surface temperatures would be more or less indistinguishable from those of slowly cooling neutron stars. The case of enhanced cooling is reinvestigated as well. It is found that strange stars cool significantly more rapidly than neutron stars within the first $\sim 30$ years after birth. This feature could become particularly interesting if continued observation of SN 1987A would reveal the temperature of the possibly existing pulsar at its centre.