Speaker
Description
Isospin-equilibrating weak processes, called ``Urca" processes, are of fundamental importance in astrophysical environments like proto-neutron stars, neutron star mergers, and supernovae. In these environments, matter can reach high temperatures of tens of MeVs and be subject to large magnetic fields. We thus investigate Urca processes at different temperatures and field strengths by performing the full temperature and magnetic-field dependent integrals of rates of Urca processes for different equations of state. I will present the finite temperature and magnetic field effects on the Isospin equilibrium condition. We find that the magnetic fields play an important role at temperatures of a few MeV, especially close to or below the direct Urca threshold, which is softened by the magnetic field. At higher temperatures, the effect of the magnetic fields can be overshadowed by the thermal effects. We observe that the magnetic field more strongly influences the neutron decay rates than the electron capture rates near the direct-Urca threshold density, leading to a shift in the isospin equilibrium condition.
