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Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 031101 (2005) [4 pages]

Simulation of Transitions between “Pasta” Phases in Dense Matter

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Gentaro Watanabe1,2,3, Toshiki Maruyama4, Katsuhiko Sato2,5, Kenji Yasuoka6, and Toshikazu Ebisuzaki3
1NORDITA, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
2Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
3The Institute of Chemical and Physical Research (RIKEN), Saitama 351-0198, Japan
4ASRC, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokai, Ibaraki 319-1195, Japan
5Research Center for the Early Universe, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
6Department of Mechanical Engineering, Keio University, Yokohama 223-8522, Japan

Featured in Physics News Update Received 23 August 2004; published 25 January 2005

Calculations of equilibrium properties of dense matter predict that at subnuclear densities nuclei can be rodlike or slablike. To investigate whether transitions between phases with nonspherical nuclei can occur during the collapse of a star, we perform quantum molecular dynamic simulations of the compression of dense matter. We have succeeded in simulating the transitions between rodlike and slablike nuclei and between slablike nuclei and cylindrical bubbles. Our results strongly suggest that nonspherical nuclei can be formed in the inner cores of collapsing stars.


©2005 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.031101
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.031101
PACS: 26.50.+x, 21.65.+f, 02.70.Ns, 97.60.Bw

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