# Light Clusters and Pasta Phases in Warm and Dense Nuclear Matter

## TL;DR

This paper investigates the formation of light clusters and pasta phases in warm, dense nuclear matter using relativistic mean-field models, comparing semiclassical and quantum approaches to understand their impact on matter properties.

## Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive analysis of light cluster formation in nuclear pasta phases, incorporating experimental data and quantum calculations within a relativistic framework.

## Key findings

- Light clusters persist at higher densities when heavy clusters are included.
- Light clusters have smaller mass fractions but influence chemical potentials.
- Comparison shows consistency between semiclassical and quantum statistical methods.

## Abstract

The pasta phases are calculated for warm stellar matter in a framework of relativistic mean-field models, including the possibility of light cluster formation. Results from three different semiclassical approaches are compared with a quantum statistical calculation. Light clusters are considered as point-like particles, and their abundances are determined from the minimization of the free energy. The couplings of the light-clusters to mesons are determined from experimental chemical equilibrium constants and many-body quantum statistical calculations. The effect of these light clusters on the chemical potentials is also discussed. It is shown that including heavy clusters, light clusters are present until larger nucleonic densities, although with smaller mass fractions.