Neutron star properties in the framework of Skyrme-Hartree-Fock theory

Joydev Lahiri, Debasis Atta, D. N. Basu

Published 2022-07-27Version 1

In order to model neutron stars, an equation of state (EoS) correlating total energy density with pressure is essential for providing physically allowable mass-radius relationship of neutron stars and calculating the neutron star masses. The mass, radius and crustal fraction of moment of inertia in neutron stars have been determined using $\beta$-equilibrated dense $npe\mu$ neutron star matter obtained using the Skyrme effective interaction with the NRAPR set. The maximum mass of neutron star calculated from this set is able to reach $\sim$2$M_\odot$, the mass of highly massive compact stars. The study of pulsar glitches facilitates extraction of crustal fraction of the moment of inertia. This fraction is greatly dependent on the pressure and corresponding density at core-crust transition. The core-crust transition density and pressure together with the observed minimum crustal fraction of the total moment of inertia provide a limit for the radius of the Vela pulsar, $R \geq 3.65 + 3.67 M/M_\odot$ kms. Present calculations imply that due to crustal entrainment coming from the Bragg reflection of unbound neutrons by lattice ions, the crustal fraction of the total moment of inertia is $\sim$6.3$\%$.