INPP Seminar - Dr. Alexander Haber- Exploring Transport and Weak Interactions in Neutron Star Mergers; Tue, Feb 27, 2024

Weak processes like neutron decay and electron capture play a fundamental role in the transport properties of neutron stars and their mergers.  In dense nuclear matter, these processes are dominated by particles on the Fermi surface and are called direct and modified Urca processes. Dr. Haber will discuss the importance of chemical equilibration via Urca processes in mergers and present a new, unified approach to modified and direct Urca. This novel approach allows us to fundamentally improve the in-medium calculation of weak decays by including the nucleon width.