Ra. Broglia et al., SPECIFIC-HEAT OF SUPERFLUID MATTER IN THE INNER CRUST OF NEUTRON-STARS, Physical review. D. Particles and fields, 50(8), 1994, pp. 4781-4785
The superfluid properties of matter in the inner crust of a neutron st
ar (4.3 x 10(11) g cm(-3) < rho < 2.4 x 10(14) g cm (-3)), where a Cou
lomb lattice of neutron-rich nuclei is permeated by a gas of unbound n
eutrons, are studied by making use of a semiclassical model to determi
ne the spatial behavior of the neutron pairing gap. A strong variation
of this quantity as a function of position in the Wigner-Seitz, cell
is found, the gap being small inside the nucleus, attaining its maximu
m at the nuclear surface and then saturating to an intermediate value
outside the nucleus. While the specific heat of this superfluid system
is obviously reduced as compared to that associated with the normal p
hase, in a physically relevant range of densities-and temperatures (rh
o/rho(0) > 0.03 and T > 0.08 MeV), its value is considerably larger th
an that associated with a uniform neutron superfluid, and of the same
order of magnitude as the electronic specific heat.