Sub-saturation matter in compact stars: Nuclear modelling in the framework of the extended Thomas-Fermi theory
Résumé
A recently introduced analytical model for the nuclear density profile [1] is implemented in the Extended ThomasFermi
(ETF) energy density functional. This allows to (i) shed a new light on the issue of the sign of surface symmetry energy
in nuclear mass formulas, as well as to (ii) show the importance of the in-medium corrections to the nuclear cluster energies
in thermodynamic conditions relevant for the description of core-collapse supernovae and (proto)-neutron star crust.