2019/07/31 by Mark G. Alford, Mark Alford, Steven P. Harris · 77 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Adiabatic process #Astrophysics #Condensed matter physics #Dissipation #Equation of state #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Neutrino #Neutron #Neutron star #Nuclear matter #Nuclear physics #Nucleon #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Saturation (graph theory) #Superfluidity #astro-ph.HE #gr-qc #hep-ph #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevc.100.035803
published in Physical Review C 100(3) (American Institute of Physics) · 13 pages v2: Matches journal version
arxiv created 2019/09/27 · openalex publication_date 2019/09/27 · arxiv updated 2019/10/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We calculate the bulk-viscous dissipation time for adiabatic density oscillations in nuclear matter at densities of one to seven times the nuclear saturation density and at temperatures ranging from 1 MeV, where corrections to previous low-temperature calculations become important, up to 10 MeV, where the assumption of neutrino transparency is no longer valid. Under these conditions, which are expected to occur in neutron star mergers, damping of density oscillations arises from \ensuremathβ equilibration via weak interactions. We find that for 1-kHz oscillations the shortest dissipation times are in the 5- to 20-ms range, depending on the equation of state, which means that bulk viscous damping could affect the dynamics of a neutron star merger. For higher frequencies, the dissipation time can be even shorter.