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The nonlocal three-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model is used to study quark deconfinement in the cores of neutron stars (NSs). The quark-hadron phase transition is modeled using both the Maxwell construction and the Gibbs construction. For the Maxwell construction, we find that all NSs with core densities beyond the phase transition density are unstable. Therefore, no quark matter cores would exist inside such NSs. The situation is drastically different if the phase transition is treated as a Gibbs transition, resulting in stable NSs whose stellar cores are a mixture of hadronic matter and deconfined quarks. The largest fractions of quarks achieved in the quark-hadron mixed phase are around 50%. No choice of parametrization or composition leads to a pure quark matter core. The inclusion of repulsive vector interactions among the quarks is crucial since the equation of state (EoS) in the quark-hadron mixed phase is significantly softer than that of the pure hadronic phase.
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New Neutron Star Equation of State with Quark–Hadron Crossover
We present a much improved equation of state for neutron star matter, QHC19, with a smooth crossover from the hadronic regime at lower densities to the quark regime at higher densities. We now use the Togashi et al.equation of state, a generalization of the Akmal–Pandharipande–Ravenhall equation of state of uniform nuclear matter, in the entire hadronic regime; the Togashi equation of state consistently describes nonuniform as well as uniform matter, and matter at beta equilibrium without the need for an interpolation between pure neutron and symmetric nuclear matter. We describe the quark matter regime at higher densities with the Nambu–Jona–Lasinio model, now identifying tight constraints on the phenomenological universal vector repulsion between quarks and the pairing interaction between quarks arising from the requirements of thermodynamic stability and causal propagation of sound. The resultant neutron star properties agree very well with the inferences of the LIGO/Virgo collaboration, from GW170817, of the pressure versus baryon density, neutron star radii, and tidal deformabilities. The maximum neutron star mass allowed by QHC19 is 2.35 solar masses, consistent with all neutron star mass determinations.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1714042
- PAR ID:
- 10126214
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical journal
- Volume:
- 885
- Issue:
- 42
- ISSN:
- 2471-4259
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/doi.org/10.3847.1538-4357/ab441e
