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It is shown that in an inhomogeneous neutron matter the pairing field bounds neutrons around the Fermi level leading to the formation of localized Andreev states. In the case of the inner crust of neutron stars the localization length has been determined as a function of the nuclear density., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure

In the inner crust of a neutron star, due to the high density and pressure, nuclei which are still present, are immersed in a neutron superfluid. One then expects that the dynamical properties of nuclei are significantly affected. In order to estimate the magnitude of the effect associated with the presence of a superfluid medium, we formulate the hydrodynamical approach to the nuclear dynamics in the inner crust of neutron stars. We calculate the renormalized nuclear mass and the strength of the medium-induced interaction between nuclei. We argue that these effects noticeably modify the properties of the Coulomb crystal in the inner crust., Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure. Presented at XXVIII Mazurian Lakes Conference on Physics: Atomic Nucleus as a Laboratory for Fundamental Processes, August 31-September 7, 2003, Krzyze, Poland

The inner crust of a neutron star consists of nuclei immersed in a superfluid neutron liquid. As these nuclei move through the fermionic medium they bring it into motion as well. As a result their mass is strongly renormalized and the spectrum of the ion lattice vibrations is significantly affected. Consequently we predict that the specific heat and the lattice thermal energy of the Coulomb crystal at these densities are noticeably modified., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Presented at the 10th Nuclear Physics Workshop Marie and Pierre Curie, September 24-28, 2003, Kazimierz Dolny, Poland

The bottom part of the neutron star crust is investigated using the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock approach with the Coulomb interaction treated beyond the Wigner-Seitz approximation. A variety of nuclear phases is found to coexist in this region. Their stability and relative energies are governed by the Coulomb, surface and shell energies. We have also found that a substantial contribution is coming from the spin-orbit interaction., Comment: 4 pages, 1 eps figure, Talk at the 17th Nuclear Physics Divisional Conference of the EPS: Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics, Debrecen, Hungary, Sept. 30 - Oct. 4, 2002

We investigate the inner crust structure of neutron stars using the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock approach with the Coulomb interaction treated beyond the Wigner-Seitz approximation. Our results suggest that the shell effects associated with unbound neutrons play an important role and, in particular, lead to complicated phase transition pattern between various nuclear phases (as a function of the density). Namely, we show that the relative energies of different phases are rapidly oscillating functions of the neutron density. In the semiclassical approach this behavior is explained as an interference effect due to periodic orbits of similar lengths. We discuss also the dependence of the shell effects on pairing correlations., Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures

In the present study we investigate the static properties of nuclei in the inner crust of neutron stars. Using the Hartree-Fock method in coordinate space, together with the semiclassical approximation, we examine the patterns of phase transitions., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, presented at the Nuclear Many-Body Problem 2001 - NATO Advanced Research Workshop, June 1-6, Brijuni, Croatia, 2001

The inner crust of neutron stars consists of nuclei of various shapes immersed in a neutron gas and stabilized by the Coulomb interaction in the form of a crystal lattice. The scattering of neutrons on nuclear inhomegeneities leads to the quantum correction to the total energy of the system. This correction resembles the Casimir energy and turns out to have a large influence on the structure of the crust., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, presented at the Fifth Workshop on Quantum Field Theory under the Influence of External Conditions, Leipzig, Germany, September 10-15, 2001, to appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys. A

Homogeneous neutron matter at subnuclear densities becomes unstable towards the formation of inhomogeneities. Depending on the average value of the neutron density one can observe the appearance of either bubbles, rods, tubes or plates embeded in a neutron gas. We estimate the quantum corrections to the ground state energy (which could be termed either shell correction or Casimir energy) of such phases of neutron matter. The calculations are performed by evaluating the contribution of the shortest periodic orbits in the Gutzwiller trace formula for the density of states. The magnitude of the quantum corrections to the ground state energy of neutron matter are of the same order as the energy differences between various phases., Comment: 11 pages, contribution to the Nobel Symposium on Quantum Chaos Y2K, Backaskog Castle, Sweden, June 13-17, 2000

We estimate the quantum corrections to the ground state energy in neutron matter (which could be termed as well either shell correction energy or Casimir energy) at subnuclear densities, where various types of inhomogeneities (bubbles, rods, plates) are energetically favorable. We show that the magnitude of these energy corrections are comparable to the energy differences between various types of inhomogeneous phases. We discuss the dependence of these corrections on a number of physical parameters (density, filling factor, temperature, lattice distortions)., Comment: A missing factor '1/pi' has been added in eqs(24,26,27). The sizes of the figures have been significantly reduced to allow for faster download