2006/01/31 by M. Baldo, Baldo, M., E. E. Saperstein +4 · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Nuclear Theory (nucl-th) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.nucl-th/0601096
LaTeX, 11 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Phys. Lett. B
openalex publication_date 2006/01/31 · arxiv created 2006/02/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The influence of the boundary conditions used in the Wigner-Seitz approximation applied to the neutron star inner crust is examined. The generalized energy functional method which includes neutron and proton pairing correlations is used. Predictions of two versions of the boundary conditions are compared with each other. The uncertainties in the equilibrium configuration (Z,Rc) of the crust, where Z is the proton charge and Rc the radius of the Wigner-Seitz cell, correspond to variation of Z by 2 -- 6 units and of Rc, by 1 -- 2 fm. The effect of the boundary conditions is enhanced at increasing density. These uncertainties are smaller than the variation of Z and Rc coming from the inclusion of pairing. The value of the pairing gap itself, especially at high density, can depend on the boundary condition used.