The High-Density Nuclear Equation of State

as visualized by Todd Thompson

We have constructed a table from the Lattimer-Swesty equation of state (see refs. below) to be used in fully dynamical core-collapse simulations. The table consists of 180 evenly-spaced mesh points in log10[], 180 mesh points in log10[T], and 50 mesh points in the electron fraction (Ye). At each point in the table we include the energy per baryon (E) in MeV, the pressure (P) in MeV fm-3, the entropy (s) in units of kB, the specific heat (CV) in baryon-1, =d(lnP)/d(ln)|s, the number fractions Xn, Xp, X, and Xh, the difference µn-µp, and its derivatives with respect to temperature and Ye. In addition, for the representative heavy nucleus, we also include the atomic mass (A) and the ratio Z/A.
To facillitate visualization of this three dimensional space we have constructed movies of a subset of the thermodynamical quantites.

Energy and Specific Heat:


Specific Heat (C_V)

Pressure and Entropy:


Entropy (s)

Particle Number Fractions:


Neutron Number Fraction (X_n)

Atomic Mass and Z/A:


The Average Atomic Mass (A)

Gamma and The Sound Speed:


Gamma

µn-µp and its Derivatives:


µ_n-µ_p

For more information on the Lattimer-Swesty equation of state, see J. Lattimer and D. Swesty, Nuclear Physics A, 535, 1991 or James Lattimer's or Doug Swesty's homepage.