Oct 20 – 23, 2026
RIKEN
Asia/Tokyo timezone
Registration deadline is October 12!!

Structure of nuclear matter below saturation density

Oct 23, 2026, 10:40 AM
20m
Headquarters Building 2F (RIKEN)

Headquarters Building 2F

RIKEN

2-1, Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
Oral Presentation Scientific Session

Speaker

Dr Nikolai Shchechilin (Institute of Science Tokyo)

Description

Sub-saturation clustered nuclear matter constitutes a substantial part of neutron stars (NSs) and thus plays an essential role in multiple related phenomena, including NS cooling, oscillations and emission of gravitational waves. These complex layers are exposed to distinct astrophysical conditions, ranging from a cold-catalyzed state to a heated, out-of-equilibrium and partially dissolved matter in binary NS mergers and supernovae.
This contribution presents a unified treatment of the inhomogeneous NS region based on a nuclear energy density functional framework employing functionals accurately calibrated against both experimental and theoretical nuclear data [1]. The matter composition is determined by consistently varying the symmetry energy [2] while accounting for the finite-temperature effects [3]. Special emphasis is placed on the formation of exotic pasta shapes. I will demonstrate how microscopic (shell plus pairing) corrections, included on top of a semiclassical approach, affect the stability and occurrence of pasta phases [4]. Finally, I will introduce three-dimensional, fully quantum simulations at unprecedented scales, revealing the pasta sequence in NSs.

[1] G. Grams, N.N. Shchechilin, A. Sánchez-Fernández, W. Ryssens, N. Chamel and S. Goriely, Eur. Phys. Journ. A, 61, 35 (2025)
[2] N.N. Shchechilin, N. Chamel, A.I. Chugunov, Eur. Phys. Jour. A, 61, 132 (2025)
[3] G. Grams, N.N. Shchechilin, T. Diverres, A.F. Fantina, N. Chamel and F. Gulminelli, Universe, 11, 172 (2025)
[4] N.N. Shchechilin, N. Chamel, J.M. Pearson, A.I. Chugunov, A. Y. Potekhin, Phys. Rev. C, 109, 055802 (2024)

Category Theory

Author

Dr Nikolai Shchechilin (Institute of Science Tokyo)

Co-authors

Dr Guilherme Grams (University of Potsdam) Prof. Kazuyuki Sekizawa (Institute of Science Tokyo) Prof. Nicolas Chamel (Universite Libre de Bruxelles) Dr Wouter Ryssens (Universite Libre de Bruxelles)

Presentation materials

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