Shape of Nuclei in the Crust of Neutron Star

Abstract

The stable nuclear shape in very dense matter composed of protons, neutrons and electrons is investigated. It is shown that, as the density of the matter increases from 1013 to 1014.5g cm−3, the stable nuclear shape is likely to change successively from sphere to cylinder, board, cylindrical hole and spherical hole before uniform neutron-star matter is formed.