Critical Density and Impact of Delta (1232) Resonance Formation in Neutron Stars

The critical densities and impact of forming \D resonances in neutron stars are investigated within an extended nonlinear relativistic mean-field (RMF) model. The critical densities for the formation of four different charge states of \D are found to depend differently on the separate kinetic and potential parts of nuclear symmetry energy, the first example of a microphysical property of neutron stars to do so. Moreover, they are sensitive to the in-medium Delta mass $m_{\Delta}$ and the completely unknown $\Delta$-$\rho$ coupling strength $g_{\rho\Delta}$. In the universal baryon-meson coupling scheme where the respective $\Delta$-meson and nucleon-meson coupling constants are assumed to be the same, the critical density for the first $\Delta^-(1232)$ to appear is found to be \rc=$(2.08\pm0.02)\rho_0$ using RMF model parameters consistent with current constraints on all seven macroscopic parameters usually used to characterize the equation of state (EoS) of isospin-asymmetric nuclear matter (ANM) at saturation density $\rho_0$. Moreover, the composition and the mass-radius relation of neutron stars are found to depend significantly on the values of the $g_{\rho\Delta}$ and $m_{\Delta}$.