arXiv:astro-ph/9803154·v1·Astrophysics
Liquid crystals in the mantles of neutron stars
C. J. Pethick (1,2)🇸🇪 · A. Y. Potekhin (1,3) ((1) Nordita, Copenhagen, (2) U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, (3) Ioffe Phys.-Tech. Inst., St.-Petersburg)🇸🇪
Abstract
Recent calculations indicate that in the outer parts of neutron stars nuclei are rod-like or slab-like, rather than roughly spherical. We consider the elastic properties of these phases, and argue that they behave as liquid crystals, rather than rigid solids. We estimate elastic constants and discuss implications of our results for neutron star behavior.
Comments: 9 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX using epsf.sty and Elsevier style files (included). To be published in Physics Letters B. PostScript version also available at http://www.ioffe.rssi.ru/dtastrop.html