Shape stability of pasta phases: Lasagna case

Understand

The stability of periodically placed slabs occurring in neutron stars (lasagna phase) is examined by exact geometrical methods for the first time.

• It appears that the slabs are stable against any shape perturbation modes for the whole range of volume fraction occupied by the slab.
• The calculations are done in the framework of the liquid drop model and obtained results are universal - they do not depend on model parameters like surface tension or charge density.
• The results shows that the transition to other pasta shapes requires crossing the finite energy barrier