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Superconducting Phases in Neutron Star Cores

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Toby WoodORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Using a phenomenological Ginzburg–Landau model that includes entrainment, we identify the possible ground states for the neutron and proton condensates in the core of a neutron star, as a function of magnetic field strength. Combining analytical and numerical techniques, we find that much of the outer core is likely to be a “type-1.5” superconductor (instead of a type-II superconductor as often assumed), in which magnetic flux is distributed inhomogeneously, with bundles of magnetic fluxtubes separated by flux-free Meissner regions. We provide an approximate criterion to determine the transition between this type-1.5 phase and the type-I region in the inner core. We also show that bundles of fluxtubes can coexist with non-superconducting regions, but only in a small part of the parameter space.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Wood TS, Graber V

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Universe

Year: 2022

Volume: 8

Issue: 4

Online publication date: 08/04/2022

Acceptance date: 06/04/2022

Date deposited: 11/05/2022

ISSN (electronic): 2218-1997

Publisher: MDPI

URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/universe8040228

DOI: 10.3390/universe8040228

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