Superfluid Phase Transitions in Dense Neutron Matter

Abstract

The phase transitions in a realistic system with triplet pairing, dense neutron matter, have been investigated. The spectrum of phases of the ${}^3{P}_2{-}^3{F}_2$ model, which adequately describes pairing in this system, is analytically constructed with the aid of a separation method for solving BCS gap equation in states of arbitrary angular momentum. In addition to solutions involving a single value of the magnetic quantum number (and its negative), there exist ten real multicomponent solutions. Five of the corresponding angle-dependent order parameters have nodes, and five do not. In contrast to the case of superfluid ${}^3$He, transitions occur between phases with nodeless order parameters. The temperature dependence of the competition between the various phases is studied.

Comments: 11 pages, 2 figures