Thermodynamical properties of nuclear matter are studied in the framework of an effective many-body field theory at finite temperature, considering the Sommerfeld approximation. We perform the calculations by using the nonlinear Boguta and Bodmer model, extended by the inclusion of the fundamental baryon octet and leptonic degrees of freedom. Trapped neutrinos are also included in order to describe protoneutron star properties through the integration of the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff equations, from which we obtain, beyond the standard relations for the masses and radii of protoneutron stars as functions of the central density, new results of these quantities as functions of temperature. Our predictions include: the determination of an absolute value for the limiting mass of protoneutron stars; new structural aspects on the nuclear matter phase transition via the behavior of the specific heat and, through the inclusion of quark degrees of freedom, the properties of a hadron-quark phase transition and hybrid protoneutron stars
Nuclear phase transition and thermodynamic instabilities in dense nuclear matter
