PROPERTIES OF LOCALIZED PROTONS IN NEUTRON STAR MATTER AT FINITE TEMPERATURES

We study properties of the proton component of neutron star matter for realistic nuclear models. Vanishing of the nuclear symmetry energy implies proton neutron separation in dense nuclear matter. Protons which form admixture tend to be localized in potential wells. Here, we extend the description of proton localization to finite temperatures. It appears that the protons are still localized at temperatures typical for hot neutron stars. That fact has important astrophysical consequences. Moreover, the temperature inclusion leads to unexpected results for the behavior of the proton localized state.