CHINESE JOURNAL OF PHYSICS VOL. 39, NO. 6 DECEMBER 2001

Chemical Equilibrium of a Degenerate Gas of
Nucleons and Electrons in a Strong Magnetic Field

Chun-Ming Chiang^1,2, Choon-Lin Ho¹ and Wen-Tsann Lin<sup>3

1</sup>Department of Physics, Tamkang University, Tamsui, Taiwan 251, R.O.C.
²Kuang Wu Institute of Technology, Peitou, Taipei, Taiwan 112, R.O.C.

³Department of Physics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan 106, R.O.C.
(Received June 29, 2001)

The equations that define the equilibrium of a homogeneous relativistic gas of neutrons, protons and electrons in a constant magnetic field are obtained. We compute the relative densities of the particles at equilibrium as function of the density of neutrons and the magnetic field. It is found that, when only the first Landau level is being filled, the proton density is enhanced as compared to the case without the magnetic field. For an ultrastrong field there exists the possibility that the proton density is greater than the neutron density. However, when higher Landau levels are being filled, the values of the particle density at equilibrium quickly converge to those obtained without the magnetic field.

PACS. 71.10.Ca - Electron gas, Fermi gas.
PACS. 71.70.Di - Landau levels.

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