2009/11/24 by J. A. Rueda, Jorge A. Rueda, Remo Ruffini +5
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0911.4627
arxiv created 2009/11/24 · openalex publication_date 2009/11/24 · arxiv updated 2009/12/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We address the existence of globally neutral neutron star configurations in contrast with the traditional ones constructed by imposing local neutrality. The equilibrium equations describing this system are the Einstein-Maxwell equations which must be solved self-consistently with the general relativistic Thomas-Fermi equation and β-equilibrium condition. To illustrate the application of this novel approach we adopt the Baym, Bethe, and Pethick (1971) strong interaction model of the baryonic matter in the core and of the white-dwarf-like material of the crust. We illustrate the crucial role played by the boundary conditions satisfied by the leptonic component of the matter at the interface between the core and the crust. For every central density an entire new family of equilibrium configurations exists for selected values of the Fermi energy of the electrons at the surface of the core. Each such configuration fulfills global charge neutrality and is characterized by a non-trivial electrodynamical structure. The electric field extends over a thin shell of thickness ∼ ℏ/(me c) between the core and the crust and becomes largely overcritical in the limit of decreasing values of the crust mass.