Equation of State of a Magnetized Dense Neutron System

Abstract

We discuss how a magnetic field can affect the equation of state of a many-particle neutron system. We show that, due to the anisotropy in the pressures, the pressure transverse to the magnetic field direction increases with the magnetic field, while the one along the field direction decreases. We also show that in this medium there exists a significant negative field-dependent contribution associated with the vacuum pressure. This negative pressure demands a neutron density sufficiently high (corresponding to a baryonic chemical potential of μ = 2.25 GeV) to produce the necessary positive matter pressure that can compensate for the gravitational pull. The decrease of the parallel pressure with the field limits the maximum magnetic field to a value of the order of 10 18 G, where the pressure decays to zero. We show that the combination of all these effects produces an insignificant variation of the system equation of state. We also found that this neutron system exhibits paramagnetic behavior expressed by the Curie’s law in the high-temperature regime. The reported results may be of interest for the astrophysics of compact objects such as magnetars, which are endowed with substantial magnetic fields.