Effect of an electron gas on a neutron-rich nuclear pasta
Abstract
We study the role the electron gas has on the formation of nuclear structures at subsaturation densities and low temperatures (T < 1 MeV ). Using a classical molecular dynamics model we study isospin symmetric and asymmetric matter at subsaturation densities and low temperatures varying the Coulomb interaction strength. The e®ect of such variation is quanti¯ed on the fragment size multiplicity, the inter-particle distance, the isospin content of the clusters, the nucleon mobility and cluster persistence, and on the nuclear structure shapes. We ¯nd that the presence of an electron gas distributes matter more evenly, disrupts the formation of larger objects, reduces the isospin content, modi¯es the nucleon average displacement, but does not a®ect the inter-nucleon distance in clusters. The nuclear structures are also found to change shapes by di®erent degrees depending on their isospin content, temperature and density.