Abstract
Modeling the composition of neutron-star crusts depends strongly on binding energies of neutron-rich nuclides near the and shell closures. Using a recent development of time-of-flight mass spectrometry for on-line purification of radioactive ion beams to access more exotic species, we have determined for the first time the mass of with the ISOLTRAP setup at the ISOLDE-CERN facility. With a robust neutron-star model based on nuclear energy-density-functional theory, we solve the general relativistic Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations and calculate the neutron-star crust composition based on the new experimental mass. The composition profile is not only altered but now constrained by experimental data deeper into the crust than before.
- Received 28 October 2012
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.041101
© 2013 American Physical Society
Synopsis
Weighing Models of Neutron Stars
Published 22 January 2013
A precise mass measurement of an exotic zinc isotope gives new insight into the composition of the crust of neutron stars, the possible birthplace of heavy elements.
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