Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Repulsive short-range interactions can induce $p$-wave attraction between fermions in dense matter and lead to Cooper pairing at the Fermi surface. We investigate this phenomenon, well known as the Kohn-Luttinger effect in condensed-matter physics, in dense matter with strong short-range repulsive interactions. We find that repulsive interactions required to stabilize massive neutron stars can induce $p$-wave pairing in neutron and quark matter. When massive vector bosons mediate the interaction between fermions, the induced interaction favors Cooper pairing in the $^{3}P_{2}$ channel. For the typical strength of the interaction favored by massive neutron stars, the associated pairing gaps in neutrons can be in the range of 10 keV to 10 MeV. Strong and attractive spin-orbit and tensor forces between neutrons can result in repulsive induced interactions that greatly suppress the $^{3}P_{2}$ pairing gap in neutron matter. In quark matter, the induced interaction is too small to result in pairing gaps of phenomenological relevance.
Source: Physical Review C
Authors: Mia Kumamoto, Sanjay Reddy
Institution: University of Washington
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4401699687