The standard variational derivation of stellar matter structure in the Wigner-Seitz approximation is generalized to the finite temperature situation where a wide distribution of different nuclear species can coexist in the same density and proton fra
ction condition, possibly out of $beta$-equilibrium. The same theoretical formalism is shown to describe on one side the single-nucleus approximation (SNA), currently used in most core collapse supernova simulations, and on the other side the nuclear statistical equilibrium (NSE) approach, routinely employed in r- and p-process explosive nucleosynthesis problems. In particular we show that in-medium effects have to be accounted for in NSE to have a theoretical consistency between the zero and finite temperature modeling. The bulk part of these in-medium effects is analytically calculated and shown to be different from a van der Waals excluded volume term. This unified formalism allows controlling quantitatively the deviations from the SNA in the different thermodynamic conditions, as well as having a NSE model which is reliable at any arbitrarily low value of the temperature, with potential applications for neutron star cooling and accretion problems. We present different illustrative results with several mass models and effective interactions, showing the importance of accounting for the nuclear species distribution even at temperatures lower than 1 MeV.
We study the thermodynamical properties of compressed baryonic matter with strangeness within non-relativistic energy density functional models with a particular emphasis on possible phase transitions found earlier for a simple $n,p,e,Lambda$-mixture
. The aim of the paper is twofold: I) examining the phase structure of the complete system, including the full baryonic octet and II) testing the sensitivity of the results to the model parameters. We find that, associated to the onset of the different hyperonic families, up to three separate strangeness-driven phase transitions may occur. Consequently, a large fraction of the baryonic density domain is covered by phase coexistence with potential relevance for (proto)-neutron star evolution. It is shown that the presence of a phase transition is compatible both with the observational constraint on the maximal neutron star mass, and with the present experimental information on hypernuclei. In particular we show that two solar mass neutron stars are compatible with important hyperon content. Still, the parameter space is too large to give a definitive conclusion of the possible occurrence of a strangeness driven phase transition, and further constraints from multiple-hyperon nuclei and/or hyperon diffusion data are needed.
The fragmentation of quasi-projectiles from the nuclear reaction $^{40}$Ca+$^{12}$C at 25 MeV/nucleon was used to produce excited states candidates to $alpha$-particle condensation. Complete kinematic characterization of individual decay events, made
possible by a high-granularity 4$pi$ charged particle multi-detector, reveals that 7.5$pm$4.0% of the particle decays of the Hoyle state correspond to direct decays in three equal-energy $alpha$-particles.
The fragmentation of quasi-projectiles from the nuclear reaction $^{40}Ca$ + $^{12}C$ at 25 MeV/nucleon was used to produce excited states candidates to $alpha$-particle condensation. The experiment was performed at LNS-Catania using the CHIMERA mult
idetector. Accepting the emission simultaneity and equality among the $alpha$-particle kinetic energies as experimental criteria for deciding in favor of the condensate nature of an excited state, we analyze the $0_2^+$ and $2_2^+$ states of $^{12}$C and the $0_6^+$ state of $^{16}$O. A sub-class of events corresponding to the direct 3-$alpha$ decay of the Hoyle state is isolated.
The fragmentation of quasi-projectiles from the nuclear reaction $^{40}Ca$+$^{12}C$ at 25 MeV/nucleon was used to produce excited states candidates to $alpha$-particle condensation. The methodology relies on high granularity 4$pi$ detection coupled t
o correlation function techniques. Under the assumption that the equality among the kinetic energies of the emitted $alpha$-particles and the emission simultaneity constitutes a reliable fingerprint of $alpha$ condensation, we identify several tens of events corresponding to the deexcitation of the Hoyle state of $^{12}$C which fulfill the condition.
