${}^3{\mathit{PF}}_2$ pairing in high-density neutron matter

The onset of the superfluid phase in high-density neutron matter is studied within the BCS framework with two- and three-body forces. When including the strong correlation effects in the gap equation, the pairing gap turns out to be nonvanishing in a range of densities about $0.1–0.4{\text{fm}}^{-3}$ with a peak value a bit less than 0.05 MeV. These results could limit the role of the ${}^3{\mathit{PF}}_2$ superfluidity in the interpretation of phenomena occurring in the neutron-star core.

Figure 1

Occupation numbers vs momentum at a given density (upper panel) and $Z$ factors vs density (lower panel) in pure neutron matter. The effect of 3BF is shown in both panels. In the lower panel the calculations are reported for two approximations of the self-energy.

Figure 2

Effect of the Fermi surface depletion on ${}^3{\mathit{PF}}_2$ pairing gap in pure neutron matter. Notice the $y$-scale change from panel (a) to panel (b).