Effect of Strong Magnetic Fields on the Equilibrium of a Degenerate Gas of Nucleons and Electrons

Abstract

We obtain the equations that define the equilibrium of a homogeneous relativistic gas of neutrons, protons and electrons in a constant magnetic field as applied to the conditions that probably occur near the center of neutron stars. We compute the relative densities of the particles at equilibrium and the Fermi momentum of electrons in the strong magnetic field as function of the density of neutrons and the magnetic field induction. Novel features are revealed as to the ratio of the number of protons to the number of neutrons at equilibrium in the presence of large magnetic fields.