Light clusters and the pasta phase

TL;DR

This paper investigates how light clusters influence the properties of low-density nuclear matter, especially in the pasta phase, considering various relativistic models and the effects of temperature, density, and proton fraction.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the impact of light clusters on the pasta phase in nuclear matter using multiple relativistic parametrizations, highlighting the role of symmetry energy.

Findings

Cluster properties are highly sensitive to symmetry energy density dependence.

Temperature and proton fraction significantly affect cluster formation and pasta phase structure.

The number of nucleons in clusters varies with density and model parameters.

Abstract

The effects of including light clusters in nuclear matter at low densities are investigated within four different parametrizations of relativistic models at finite temperature. Both homogeneous and inhomogeneous matter (pasta phase) are described for neutral nuclear matter with fixed proton fractions. We discuss the effect of the density dependence of the symmetry energy, the temperature and the proton fraction on the non-homogeneous matter forming the inner crust of proto-neutron stars. It is shown that the number of nucleons in the clusters, the cluster proton fraction and the sizes of the Wigner Seitz cell and of the cluster are very sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry energy.