2021PASP..133i4201L

Based on the theory of the relativistic mean-field effective interactions, we explore the effect of superstrong magnetic fields (SMFs) on nuclear single-particle level structure, nuclear blinding energy, and the electron Fermi energy in strongly magnetized super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs (SMSWDs). We also discuss the electron capture (EC) instability from the threshold mass density (TMD) and threshold pressure (TP) for some typical iron group nuclei in SMSWD due to SMFs. At relatively low densities (e.g., ρ₇ = 57, 97, 197), the EC rates increase and they then decrease by more than four orders of magnitude. However, at relatively higher density (e.g., ρ₇ = 4197), the rates increase by about two orders of magnitude when 2 x 10³ < B₁₂ < 5 x 10⁴, and then the SMFs have a minor effect on EC rates. The TMD (TP) can increase by about 23% ∼ 29%, due to an increase in the electron-ion interaction and nuclear binding energy in SMFs. As SMFs further increase, the TMD (TP) increase almost linearly for one Landau levels system. For a two and three Landau level system, the SMFs have a slight influence on the TMD (TP) (e.g., at B₁₂ = 10^3.5), and then TMD (TP) increases by about 13% ∼ 14%, and finally decreases by about 27.85% (27.34%). The shift of the onset of EC can make the maximum mass of the SMSWD increase by more than 2.28% for a one Landau level system. This influence from TMD (TP) can be larger than that of general relativity for SMSWD, which contains some iron group nuclei.