Nuclear structure in strong magnetic fields: nuclei in the crust of a magnetar

TL;DR

This paper investigates how extremely strong magnetic fields, similar to those in magnetars, influence nuclear structure using covariant density functional theory, revealing significant effects on nuclear properties at high field strengths.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent approach to include magnetic field effects, time reversal symmetry breaking, and axial deformation in nuclear structure calculations under extreme conditions.

Findings

Magnetic fields around 10^{17} G significantly alter nuclear masses and radii.

Strong magnetic fields induce axial deformation in nuclei.

The study extends understanding of nuclear behavior in neutron star crusts.

Abstract

Covariant density functional theory is used to study the effect of strong magnetic fields, up to the limit predicted for neutron stars (for magnetars $B \approx10^{18}$G), on nuclear structure. All new terms in the equation of motion resulting from time reversal symmetry breaking by the magnetic field and the induced currents, as well as axial deformation, are taken into account in a self-consistent fashion. For nuclei in the iron region of the nuclear chart it is found that fields in the order of magnitude of $10^{17}$G significantly affect bulk properties like masses and radii.