Effective interactions and superfluid energy gaps for low density neutron matter

We use a polarization potential approach to calculate properties of neutron matter at sub-nuclear densities with particular attention to the superfluid pairing interaction. Our model divides the quasi-particle scattering amplitude at the Fermi surface into two distinct parts: a direct particle-hole irreducible piece and an induced particle-hole reducible contribution. The direct part is constructed from realistic two-nucleon potentials. Short-range correlations are taken into account phenomenologically by modifying the potentials at short distances. The induced contribution is generated as a self-consistent summation of particle-hole reducible diagrams. The resulting quasi-particle scattering amplitude is fully antisymmetric for all moment 0≤q≤2kF. Realistic bounds on the s-wave pairing gap are given and consequences for the dynamics of rotating neutron stars are briefly discussed. (orig.)