Nuclear liquid-gas phase transition and supernovae evolution

Abstract

It is shown that the large density fluctuations appearing at the onset of the first order nuclear liquid-gas phase transition can play an important role in the supernovae evolution. Due to these fluctuations, the neutrino gas may be trapped inside a thin layer of matter near the proto-neutron star surface. The resulting increase of pressure may induce strong particle ejection a few hundred milliseconds after the bounce of the collapse, contributing to the revival of the shock wave. The Hartree-Fock+RPA scheme, with a finite-range nucleon-nucleon effective interaction, is employed to estimate the effects of the neutrino trapping due to the strong density fluctuations, and to discuss qualitatively the consequences of the suggested new scenario.

Comments: version2 - precise that nuclear liquid-gas phase transition is 1st order and the unique instable mode is isoscalar