Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-08-19
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Scientific paper
We analyze the possibility that due to their superfluid properties some compact astrophysical objects may contain a significant part of their matter in the form of a Bose-Einstein condensate. To study the condensate we use the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, with arbitrary non-linearity. By introducing the Madelung representation of the wave function, we formulate the dynamics of the system in terms of the continuity equation and of the hydrodynamic Euler equations. The non-relativistic and Newtonian Bose-Einstein gravitational condensate can be described as a gas, whose density and pressure are related by a barotropic equation of state. In the case of a condensate with quartic non-linearity, the equation of state is polytropic with index one. In the framework of the Thomas-Fermi approximation the structure of the Newtonian gravitational condensate is described by the Lane-Emden equation, which can be exactly solved. The case of the rotating condensate is also discussed. General relativistic configurations with quartic non-linearity are studied numerically with both non-relativistic and relativistic equations of state, and the maximum mass of the stable configuration is determined. Condensates with particle masses of the order of two neutron masses (Cooper pair) and scattering length of the order of 10-20 fm have maximum masses of the order of 2 M_sun, maximum central density of the order of 0.1-0.3 10^16 g/cm^3 and minimum radii in the range of 10-20 km. In this way we obtain a large class of stable astrophysical objects, whose basic astrophysical parameters (mass and radius) sensitively depend on the mass of the condensed particle, and on the scattering length. We also propose that the recently observed neutron stars with masses in the range of 2-2.4 M_sun are Bose-Einstein Condensate stars.
Chavanis Pierre-Henri
Harko Tiberiu
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