2022/06/11 by N. Chamel, Nicolas Chamel, A. F. Fantina +1 · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Nuclear physics research studies #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph.HE #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.3390/universe8060328
published as Universe 2022, 8(6), 328 · 23 pages, 14 figures. Full numerical results available on Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6604639
openalex publication_date 2022/06/11 · arxiv created 2022/06/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28 · arxiv updated 2026/07/31
The loss of magnetic pressure accompanying the decay of the magnetic field in a magnetar may trigger exothermic electron captures by nuclei in the shallow layers of the stellar crust. Very accurate analytical formulas are obtained for the threshold density and pressure, as well as for the maximum amount of heat that can be possibly released, taking into account the Landau–Rabi quantization of electron motion. These formulas are valid for arbitrary magnetic field strengths, from the weakly quantizing regime to the most extreme situation in which electrons are all confined to the lowest level. Numerical results are also presented based on experimental nuclear data supplemented with predictions from the Brussels-Montreal model HFB-24. This same nuclear model has been already employed to calculate the equation of state in all regions of magnetars.