  The properties and composition of the outer crust of nonaccreting cold
neutron stars are studied by applying the model of Baym, Pethick, and
Sutherland, which was extended by including higher order corrections of the
atomic binding, screening, exchange and zero-point energy. The most recent
experimental nuclear data from the atomic mass table of Audi, Wapstra, and
Thibault from 2003 is used. Extrapolation to the drip line is utilized by
various state-of-the-art theoretical nuclear models (finite range droplet,
relativistic nuclear field and non-relativistic Skyrme Hartree-Fock
parameterizations). The different nuclear models are compared with respect to
the mass and radius of the outer crust for different neutron star
configurations and the nuclear compositions of the outer crust.
