Berlin 2014 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 36: Quantum gases: Effects of interactions
Q 36.6: Talk
Thursday, March 20, 2014, 12:00–12:15, UDL HS2002
Beyond the Laboratory: Bose-Einstein Condensation in Stars — •Christine Gruber1 and Axel Pelster2 — 1Department of Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany — 2Physics Department and Research Center OPTIMAS, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany
We investigate the possible occurrence of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in astrophysical contexts, i.e. in compact objects such as white dwarfs and neutron stars. Conditions in such environments allow for the formation of BECs due to a favorable combination of temperature and density, and thus it is of interest to investigate the condensation of bosonic particles under the influence of gravitational interactions. Here we extend the corresponding zero-temperature Hartree-Fock theory of the literature by including finite-temperature effects. Solving the resulting Hartree-Fock self-consistency equations within the Thomas-Fermi and the semiclassical approximation leads to the radial density profiles of both the condensed and the thermal bosons. Furthermore, macroscopic astrophysical quantitites like the equation of state, the total mass, and the maximum star mass are derived. The theory has been applied to the case of helium white dwarfs and neutron stars, yielding reasonable predictions in the latter case, where the superfluidity emerges due to effectively bosonic neutron pairs which form a BEC.