Spinodal instabilities and the distillation effect in relativistic hadronic models

S. S. Avancini, L. Brito, Ph. Chomaz, D. P. Menezes, and C. Providência
Phys. Rev. C 74, 024317 – Published 25 August 2006

Abstract

Liquid-gas phase transitions in asymmetric nuclear matter give rise to a distillation effect that corresponds to the formation of droplets of high-density symmetric matter in a background of a neutron gas possibly with a very small fraction of protons. In the present work we test the model dependence of this effect. We study the spinodal instabilities of asymmetric nuclear matter within six different mean-field relativistic models with both constant and density-dependent coupling parameters. We also consider the effects of introducing the δ meson and the nonlinear ωρ coupling. It is shown that the distillation effect within density-dependent models is not so efficient and is comparable to results obtained for nonrelativistic models. Thermodynamical instabilities of nuclear matter neutralized by electrons as found in stellar matter are also investigated. The high Fermi energy of electrons completely erases the instability of density-dependent models. The other models still show a small region of instability but the distillation effect completely disappears because the electron presence freezes the proton fluctuations.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 30 May 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.74.024317

©2006 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

S. S. Avancini1, L. Brito2, Ph. Chomaz3, D. P. Menezes1, and C. Providência2

  • 1Departamento de Física, CFM, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Florianópolis, CP 476, CEP 88.040-900 Florianópolis, SC, Brazil
  • 2Centro de Física Teórica, Departamento de Física, Universidade de Coimbra, P-3004-516 Coimbra, Portugal
  • 3GANIL (DSM-CEA/IN2P3-CNRS), Boîte Postale 5027, F-14076 Caen Cédex 5, France

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 74, Iss. 2 — August 2006

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review C

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×