  The composition of the inner crust of neutron stars is usually studied using
phenomenological interactions such as Skyrme energy-density functionals. But
most of these functionals do not agree well with ab-initio calculations of very
dilute neutron matter. In this work, we study the inner crust of neutron stars
in the model of phase coexistence of dense neutron-rich nuclear clusters and
dilute neutron gas, and we investigate how employing a realistic microscopic
equation of state to the neutron gas alters the composition. Our results
indicate that with a functional that reproduces the correct equation of state
of neutron matter at moderate densities, one can obtain a good description of
the crust even if the functional does not have the correct behavior at
extremely low density.
