Equation of state in the inner crust of neutron stars: discusion of the unbound neutron states

Abstract

In this paper, we calculate the stable Wigner-Seitz (W-S) cells in the inner crust of neutron stars and we discuss the nuclear shell effects. A distinction is done between the shell effects due to the bound states and those induced by the unbound states, which are shown to be spurious. We then estimate the effects of the spurious shells on the total energy and decompose it into a smooth and a residual part. We propose a correction to the Hartree-Fock binding energy in Wigner-Seitz cell (HF-WS).