Light clusters in warm stellar matter: explicit mass shifts and universal cluster-meson couplings

TL;DR

This paper investigates how light clusters behave in warm stellar matter using a relativistic mean-field model, incorporating explicit mass shifts and universal cluster-meson couplings to improve predictions of cluster properties and abundances.

Contribution

It introduces an explicit binding energy shift and phenomenological cluster-meson couplings within the relativistic mean-field framework, enhancing the modeling of in-medium cluster modifications.

Findings

Cluster abundances agree with heavy ion collision data.

The model recovers the virial limit at low density.

Comparisons with microscopic calculations show reasonable agreement.

Abstract

In-medium modifications of light cluster properties in warm stellar matter are studied within the relativistic mean-field approximation. In-medium effects are included by introducing an explicit binding energy shift analytically calculated in the Thomas-Fermi approximation, supplemented with a phenomenological modification of the cluster couplings to the $\sigma$ meson. A linear dependence on the $\sigma$ meson is assumed for the cluster mass, and the associated coupling constant is fixed imposing that the virial limit at low density is recovered. The resulting cluster abundances come out to be in reasonable agreement with constraints at higher density coming from heavy ion collision data. Some comparisons with microscopic calculations are also shown.