Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1012.4464 · Physical Review C

Spin-polarized low-density neutron matter

Alexandros Gezerlis

Published Jun 3, 2011• 9 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Low-density neutron matter is relevant to the study of neutron-rich nuclei and neutron star crusts. Unpolarized neutron matter has been studied extensively over a number of decades, while experimental guidance has recently started to emerge from the field of ultracold atomic gases. In this work, we study population-imbalanced neutron matter (possibly relevant to magnetars and to density functionals of nuclei) by applying a quantum Monte Carlo method that has proven successful in the field of cold atoms. We report on the first ab initiosimulations of superfluid low-density polarized neutron matter. For systems with small imbalances, we find a linear dependence of the energy on the polarization, the proportionality coefficient being dependent on the density. We also present results for the momentum and pair distributions of the two fermionic components.

DOI
10.1103/physrevc.83.065801

Related papers

Phase separation in low-density neutron matter

Alexandros Gezerlis, Rishi Sharma

Low-density neutron matter has been studied extensively for many decades, with a view to better understanding the properties of neutron-star crusts and neutron-rich nuclei. Neutron matter is beyond experimental control, but in the past decade it has become possible to create systems of fermionic ultracold atomic gases in a regime close to low-density neutron matter. In both these contexts pairing is significant, making simple perturbative approaches impossible to apply and necessitating ab initio microscopic simulations. Atomic experiments have also probed polarized matter. In this work, we study population-imbalanced neutron matter (possibly relevant to magnetars and to density functionals of nuclei) arriving at the lowest-energy configuration to date. For small-to-intermediate relative fractions, the system turns out to be fully normal, while beyond a critical polarization we find phase coexistence between a partially polarized normal neutron gas and a balanced superfluid gas. As in cold atoms, a homogeneous polarized superfluid is close to stability but not stable with respect to phase separation. We also study the dependence of the critical polarization on the density.

arXiv:1111.0298•Physical Review C•Jan 17, 2012•12 citations

Strongly paired fermions: Cold atoms and neutron matter

Alexandros Gezerlis, Joseph Carlson

Experiments with cold Fermi atoms can be tuned to probe strongly-interacting fluids that are very similar to the low-density neutron matter found in the crusts of neutron stars. In contrast to traditional superfluids and superconductors, matter in this regime is very strongly paired, with gaps of the order of the Fermi energy. We compute the $T=0$ equation of state and pairing gap for cold atoms and low-density neutron matter as a function of the Fermi momentum times the scattering length. Results of quantum Monte Carlo calculations show that the equations of state are very similar. The neutron matter pairing gap at low densities is found to be very large but, except at the smallest densities, significantly suppressed relative to cold atoms because of the finite effective range in the neutron-neutron interaction.

arXiv:0711.3006•Physical Review C•Mar 12, 2008•215 citations

Vortices in low-density neutron matter and cold Fermi gases

Lucas Madeira, Stefano Gandolfi, Kevin E. Schmidt +1 more

Cold gas experiments can be tuned to achieve strongly-interacting regimes such as that of low-density neutron matter found in neutron-stars' crusts. We report $T=0$ diffusion Monte Carlo results (i) for the ground state of both spin-1/2 fermions with short-range interactions and low-density neutron matter in a cylindrical container, and (ii) properties of these systems with a vortex line excitation. We calculate the equation of state for cold atoms and low-density neutron matter in the bulk systems, and we contrast it to our results in the cylindrical container. We compute the vortex line excitation energy for different interaction strengths, and we find agreement between cold gases and neutron matter for very low densities. We also calculate density profiles, which allow us to determine the density depletion at the vortex core, which depends strongly on the short-ranged interaction in cold atomic gases, but it is of $\ensuremath{\approx}25%$ for neutron matter in the density regimes studied in this work. Our results can be used to constrain neutron matter properties by using measurements from cold Fermi gases experiments.

arXiv:1903.06724•Physical Review C•Jul 8, 2019•9 citations

Terrestrial and Astrophysical Superfluidity: Cold Atoms and Neutron Matter

Alexandros Gezerlis, Joseph Carlson

After a brief historical overview of superfluidity in connection with neutron matter and cold fermionic atoms, we discuss the commonalities between these two systems as well as their relevance to the physics of neutron star crusts. We then present the methodological tools we use to attack the many-body problem, comparing Quantum Monte Carlo to mean-field theory and to the analytic expectations at weak coupling. We review recent results on the equation of state and the pairing gap of cold atoms and neutron matter and contrast them with a variety of calculations by other groups. We conclude by giving a few directions of possible future inquiry.

arXiv:1109.4946•Sep 22, 2011•1 citation

Equation of State and Pairing Gaps in Cold Atoms and Low-Density Neutron Matter

Joseph Carlson, Alexandros Gezerlis, Sanjay K. Reddy +3 more

Cold Atom experiments provide a direct experimental test of the properties of neutron matter at extremely low densities, as is expected to be found in the crusts of neutron stars. These systems are very unusual in that the pairing gap is of the order of the Fermi energy, rather than the very small fraction typical for superfluids or superconductors. We compare the equation of state and the pairing gaps in these systems.

AIP conference proceedings•Jan 1, 2008•1 citation

Spin-polarized neutron matter: Critical unpairing and BCS-BEC precursor

Matthias Oliver Stein, Armen Sedrakian, Xu-Guang Huang +1 more

We obtain the critical magnetic field required for complete destruction of $S$-wave pairing in neutron matter, thereby setting limits on the pairing and superfluidity of neutrons in the crust and outer core of magnetars. We find that for fields $B\ensuremath{\ge}{10}^{17}$ G the neutron fluid is nonsuperfluid---if weaker spin 1 superfluidity does not intervene---a result with profound consequences for the thermal, rotational, and oscillatory behavior of magnetars. Because the dineutron is not bound in vacuum, cold dilute neutron matter cannot exhibit a proper BCS-BEC crossover. Nevertheless, owing to the strongly resonant behavior of the $nn$ interaction at low densities, neutron matter shows a precursor of the BEC state, as manifested in Cooper-pair correlation lengths being comparable to the interparticle distance. We make a systematic quantitative study of this type of BCS-BEC crossover in the presence of neutron fluid spin polarization induced by an ultrastrong magnetic field. We evaluate the Cooper-pair wave function, quasiparticle occupation numbers, and quasiparticle spectra for densities and temperatures spanning the BCS-BEC crossover region. The phase diagram of spin-polarized neutron matter is constructed and explored at different polarizations.

arXiv:1510.06000•Physical Review C•Jan 27, 2016•41 citations
Low-density neutron matter is relevant to the study of neutron-rich nuclei and neutron star crusts. Unpolarized neutron matter has been studied extensively over a number of decades, while experimental guidance has recently started to emerge from the field of ultracold atomic gases. In this work, we study population-imbalanced neutron matter (possibly relevant to magnetars and to density functionals of nuclei) by applying a quantum Monte Carlo method that has proven successful in the field of cold atoms. We report on the first ab initiosimulations of superfluid low-density polarized neutron matter. For systems with small imbalances, we find a linear dependence of the energy on the polarization, the proportionality coefficient being dependent on the density. We also present results for the momentum and pair distributions of the two fermionic components.
Low-density neutron matter has been studied extensively for many decades, with a view to better understanding the properties of neutron-star crusts and neutron-rich nuclei. Neutron matter is beyond experimental control, but in the past decade it has become possible to create systems of fermionic ultracold atomic gases in a regime close to low-density neutron matter. In both these contexts pairing is significant, making simple perturbative approaches impossible to apply and necessitating ab initio microscopic simulations. Atomic experiments have also probed polarized matter. In this work, we study population-imbalanced neutron matter (possibly relevant to magnetars and to density functionals of nuclei) arriving at the lowest-energy configuration to date. For small-to-intermediate relative fractions, the system turns out to be fully normal, while beyond a critical polarization we find phase coexistence between a partially polarized normal neutron gas and a balanced superfluid gas. As in cold atoms, a homogeneous polarized superfluid is close to stability but not stable with respect to phase separation. We also study the dependence of the critical polarization on the density.
Experiments with cold Fermi atoms can be tuned to probe strongly-interacting fluids that are very similar to the low-density neutron matter found in the crusts of neutron stars. In contrast to traditional superfluids and superconductors, matter in this regime is very strongly paired, with gaps of the order of the Fermi energy. We compute the T=0T=0T=0 equation of state and pairing gap for cold atoms and low-density neutron matter as a function of the Fermi momentum times the scattering length. Results of quantum Monte Carlo calculations show that the equations of state are very similar. The neutron matter pairing gap at low densities is found to be very large but, except at the smallest densities, significantly suppressed relative to cold atoms because of the finite effective range in the neutron-neutron interaction.
Cold gas experiments can be tuned to achieve strongly-interacting regimes such as that of low-density neutron matter found in neutron-stars' crusts. We report T=0T=0T=0 diffusion Monte Carlo results (i) for the ground state of both spin-1/2 fermions with short-range interactions and low-density neutron matter in a cylindrical container, and (ii) properties of these systems with a vortex line excitation. We calculate the equation of state for cold atoms and low-density neutron matter in the bulk systems, and we contrast it to our results in the cylindrical container. We compute the vortex line excitation energy for different interaction strengths, and we find agreement between cold gases and neutron matter for very low densities. We also calculate density profiles, which allow us to determine the density depletion at the vortex core, which depends strongly on the short-ranged interaction in cold atomic gases, but it is of $\ensuremath{\approx}25%$ for neutron matter in the density regimes studied in this work. Our results can be used to constrain neutron matter properties by using measurements from cold Fermi gases experiments.
After a brief historical overview of superfluidity in connection with neutron matter and cold fermionic atoms, we discuss the commonalities between these two systems as well as their relevance to the physics of neutron star crusts. We then present the methodological tools we use to attack the many-body problem, comparing Quantum Monte Carlo to mean-field theory and to the analytic expectations at weak coupling. We review recent results on the equation of state and the pairing gap of cold atoms and neutron matter and contrast them with a variety of calculations by other groups. We conclude by giving a few directions of possible future inquiry.
We obtain the critical magnetic field required for complete destruction of SSS-wave pairing in neutron matter, thereby setting limits on the pairing and superfluidity of neutrons in the crust and outer core of magnetars. We find that for fields $B\ensuremath{\ge}{10}^{17}$ G the neutron fluid is nonsuperfluid---if weaker spin 1 superfluidity does not intervene---a result with profound consequences for the thermal, rotational, and oscillatory behavior of magnetars. Because the dineutron is not bound in vacuum, cold dilute neutron matter cannot exhibit a proper BCS-BEC crossover. Nevertheless, owing to the strongly resonant behavior of the nnnnnn interaction at low densities, neutron matter shows a precursor of the BEC state, as manifested in Cooper-pair correlation lengths being comparable to the interparticle distance. We make a systematic quantitative study of this type of BCS-BEC crossover in the presence of neutron fluid spin polarization induced by an ultrastrong magnetic field. We evaluate the Cooper-pair wave function, quasiparticle occupation numbers, and quasiparticle spectra for densities and temperatures spanning the BCS-BEC crossover region. The phase diagram of spin-polarized neutron matter is constructed and explored at different polarizations.