Symmetry energy, unstable nuclei, and neutron star crusts

TL;DR

This paper reviews a phenomenological approach to modeling inhomogeneous nuclear matter, connecting nuclear physics with neutron star crust properties and exploring how experiments and observations can constrain the symmetry energy.

Contribution

It compiles and applies over 200 equations of state to describe unstable nuclei and neutron star crusts, and discusses constraining symmetry energy through experiments and astrophysical observations.

Findings

Consistent equations of state match empirical nuclear data.

Application to unstable nuclei and neutron star crusts.

Potential to constrain symmetry energy from experiments and astrophysical signals.

Abstract

Phenomenological approach to inhomogeneous nuclear matter is useful to describe fundamental properties of atomic nuclei and neutron star crusts in terms of the equation of state of uniform nuclear matter. We review a series of researches that we have developed by following this approach. We start with more than 200 equations of state that are consistent with empirical masses and charge radii of stable nuclei and then apply them to describe matter radii and masses of unstable nuclei, proton elastic scattering and total reaction cross sections off unstable nuclei, and nuclei in neutron star crusts including nuclear pasta. We finally discuss the possibility of constraining the density dependence of the symmetry energy from experiments on unstable nuclei and even observations of quasi-periodic oscillations in giant flares of soft gamma-ray repeaters.