POCI/FP/63918/2005 Phase transitions in hadronic matter with applications to astrophysics

An important problem in contemporary nuclear physics and astrophysics is the determination of the properties of nuclear matter as functions of density, temperature and the neutron-proton composition. In particular one expects to be able to determine the density dependence of the symmetry energy at low and high densities by measuring physical quantities sensitive to this degree of freedom in relativistic heavy ion-collisions. The aim of the present project is to continue the project already started, namely a) to study the thermodynamical and dynamical instabilities of neutral matter, constituted by neutrons, protons and neutrons, at finite temperature and for different isospin asymmetries, in the framework of relativistic mean-field models with different density dependence of the symmetry energy (non-linear Walecka models with non-linear couplings between isoscalar and isovector mesons and models with density dependent couplings), within the Thomas-Fermi formalism and the relativistic Vlasov equation. This work is of great importance for the study of the absorption of neutrinos at the crust of a proto-neutron star; b) to make a systematic study within several relativistic models of the released energy during the possible conversion of a metastable hadronic compact star into hybrid or quark stars. This will allow us to discuss whether the obtained values could account for the short or long gamma ray bursts observed and determine the mean lifetime of the metastable configurations; c) to study the effect of including short range correlations in relativistic models, in the framework of the Hartree-Fock approximation combined with the unitary correlation method, in particular the inclusion of pi and rho mesons and 3-body correclations; d) to reconcile the well established models such as the Walecka model and the QMC model with chiral symmetry and describe the deconfinement phase transition within phenomenological models for both the hadronic and quark phases, at finite temperature and density, including the strangeness degree of freedom

Status: Concluded

Starting date: 01-11-2006

End date:

Financing: Euros

Financing entity: FCT

Project ID: POCI/FP/63918/2005

Person*month: 15

Group person*month: 0

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