Global properties of nuclei and drip lines at finite temperature

Nuclear processes in stellar environments, such as those occurring in core-collapse supernovae, and neutron star mergers, take place at high temperatures, ranging from millions to billions of Kelvin. These conditions differ significantly from the zero-temperature limit often used in traditional nuclear studies. Recently we presented the first comprehensive mapping of nuclear drip lines at finite temperatures, reaching up to 2.3 × 1010 Kelvin (2 MeV), employing the finite temperature relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov model and the particle continuum subtraction technique. Our results reveal a surprising increase in the number of bound nuclei at high temperatures, attributed to the thermal quenching of shell effects, particularly evident above N = 82, N = 126, and N = 184 shell closures. We also investigated critical properties such as neutron emission lifetimes, quadrupole deformations, neutron skin thickness, and pairing gaps as functions of temperature. Findings show that, while finite-temperature effects are modest up to T ≈ 1 MeV, they become increasingly significant at higher temperatures, reducing deformations and weakening shell closures. These insights into properties of hot nuclei could have implications for understanding nuclear reactions in astrophysical environments, particularly those relevant to explosive stellar phenomena.