We calculate the equation of state (EOS) of dense matter using a relativistic mean field (RMF) model with a density dependent coupling that is a slightly modified form of the original NL3 interaction. For nonuniform nuclear matter we approximate the unit lattice as a spherical Wigner-Seitz cell, wherein the meson mean fields and nucleon Dirac wave functions are solved fully self-consistently. We also calculate uniform nuclear matter for a wide range of temperatures, densities, and proton fractions, and match them to nonuniform matter as the density decreases. The calculations took over 6000 CPU days in Indiana University’s supercomputer clusters. We tabulate the resulting EOS at over 107,000 grid points in the proton fraction range $Y_P=0$ to 0.56. For the temperature range $T=0.16$ to 15.8 MeV, we cover the density range $n_B={10}^{-4}$ to 1.6 fm${}^{-3}$; and for the higher temperature range $T=15.8$ to 80 MeV, we cover the larger density range $n_B={10}^{-8}$ to $1.6$ fm${}^{-3}$. In the future we plan to study low density, low temperature ($T<15.8$ MeV), nuclear matter using a Virial expansion, and we will match the low-density and high-density results to generate a complete EOS table for use in astrophysical simulations of supernova and neutron star mergers.

• Received 1 April 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.82.015806