RELATIVISTIC MODELS FOR SUPERCONDUCTING-SUPERFLUID MIXTURES

The material below the crust of a neutron star is understood to be des cribable in terms of three principal independently moving constituents , identifiable as neutrons, protons, and electrons, of which the first two are believed to form mutually coupled bosonic condensates. The la rge scale comportment of such a system will be that of a positively ch arged superconducting superfluid in a negatively charged ''normal'' fl uid background. As a contribution to the development of the theory of such a system, the present work shows how, subject to neglect of dissi pative effects, it is possible to set up an elegant category of simpli fied but fully relativistic three-constituent superconducting superflu id models whose purpose is to provide realistic approximations for cas es in which a strictly conservative treatment is sufficient. A ''mesos copic'' model, describing the fluid between the vortices, is construct ed, as well as a ''macroscopic'' model taking into account the average effect of quantised vortices. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.