RELATIVISTIC EQUATION OF STATE OF NUCLEAR-MATTER FOR SUPERNOVA AND NEUTRON-STAR

We construct the equation of state (EOS) of nuclear matter using the r elativistic mean field (RMF) theory in the wide density, temperature r ange with various proton fractions for the use of supernova simulation and the neutron star calculations. We first construct the EOS of homo geneous nuclear matter. We use then the Thomas-Fermi approximation to describe inhomogeneous matter, where heavy nuclei are formed together with free nucleon gas, We discuss the results on free energy, pressure and entropy in the wide range of astrophysical interest. As an exampl e, we apply the resulting EOS on the neutron star properties by using the Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.