Molecular dynamics simulations of nuclear pasta

The study of supernovae requires understanding the properties of matter at a large range of densities and temperatures. At subnuclear densities of about $10^{14}$ g/cm$^3$ nucleons, protons and neutrons, become the relevant degrees of freedom. Both nucleons interact via a short-range nuclear force. Meanwhile, protons also interact via a long range Coulomb force. Because of competition between these two forces nucleons arrange themselves in a variety of complex shapes known as \textit{nuclear pasta}. In the present work we describe a simple semiclassical model for the nucleon interactions and use large scale molecular dynamics simulations to study the \textit{nuclear pasta}.