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1. Magnetic Dual Chiral DensityWave: A Candidate Quark Matter Phase for the Interior of Neutron Stars

   Efrain J Ferrer and Vivian de la Incera ( November 2021 , Universe)

   MDPI (Ed.)

   In this review, we discuss the physical characteristics of the magnetic dual chiral density wave (MDCDW) phase of dense quark matter and argue why it is a promising candidate for the interior matter phase of neutron stars. The MDCDW condensate occurs in the presence of a magnetic field. It is a single-modulated chiral density wave characterized by two dynamically generated parameters: the fermion quasiparticle mass m and the condensate spatial modulation q. The lowest-Landau-level quasiparticle modes in the MDCDW system are asymmetric about the zero energy, a fact that leads to the topological properties and anomalous electric transport exhibited by this phase. The topology makes the MDCDW phase robust against thermal phonon fluctuations, and as such, it does not display the Landau–Peierls instability, a staple feature of single-modulated inhomogeneous chiral condensates in three dimensions. The topology is also reflected in the presence of the electromagnetic chiral anomaly in the effective action and in the formation of hybridized propagating modes known as axion-polaritons. Taking into account that one of the axion-polaritons of this quark phase is gapped, we argue how incident g-ray photons can be converted into gapped axion-polaritons in the interior of a magnetar star in the MDCDW phase leading the star to collapse, a phenomenon that can serve to explain the so-called missing pulsar problem in the galactic center. 

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2. Magnetic Dual Chiral Density Wave: A Candidate Quark Matter Phase for the Interior of Neutron Stars

   https://doi.org/10.3390/universe7120458  

   Ferrer, Efrain J. ; de la Incera, Vivian ( December 2021 , Universe)

   In this review, we discuss the physical characteristics of the magnetic dual chiral density wave (MDCDW) phase of dense quark matter and argue why it is a promising candidate for the interior matter phase of neutron stars. The MDCDW condensate occurs in the presence of a magnetic field. It is a single-modulated chiral density wave characterized by two dynamically generated parameters: the fermion quasiparticle mass m and the condensate spatial modulation q. The lowest-Landau-level quasiparticle modes in the MDCDW system are asymmetric about the zero energy, a fact that leads to the topological properties and anomalous electric transport exhibited by this phase. The topology makes the MDCDW phase robust against thermal phonon fluctuations, and as such, it does not display the Landau–Peierls instability, a staple feature of single-modulated inhomogeneous chiral condensates in three dimensions. The topology is also reflected in the presence of the electromagnetic chiral anomaly in the effective action and in the formation of hybridized propagating modes known as axion-polaritons. Taking into account that one of the axion-polaritons of this quark phase is gapped, we argue how incident γ-ray photons can be converted into gapped axion-polaritons in the interior of a magnetar star in the MDCDW phase leading the star to collapse, a phenomenon that can serve to explain the so-called missing pulsar problem in the galactic center. 

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3. Magnetic Dual Chiral Density Wave: A Candidate Quark Matter Phase for the Interior of Neutron Stars

   https://doi.org/doi.org/ 10.3390/universe7120458  

   Ferrer, Efrain J. ; Incera, Vivian ( November 2021 , Universe)

   MDPI (Ed.)

   In this review, we discuss the physical characteristics of the magnetic dual chiral density wave (MDCDW) phase of dense quark matter and argue why it is a promising candidate for the interior matter phase of neutron stars. The MDCDW condensate occurs in the presence of a magnetic field. It is a single-modulated chiral density wave characterized by two dynamically generated parameters: the fermion quasiparticle mass m and the condensate spatial modulation q. The lowest- Landau-level quasiparticle modes in the MDCDW system are asymmetric about the zero energy, a fact that leads to the topological properties and anomalous electric transport exhibited by this phase. The topology makes the MDCDW phase robust against thermal phonon fluctuations, and as such, it does not display the Landau–Peierls instability, a staple feature of single-modulated inhomogeneous chiral condensates in three dimensions. The topology is also reflected in the presence of the electromagnetic chiral anomaly in the effective action and in the formation of hybridized propagating modes known as axion-polaritons. Taking into account that one of the axion-polaritons of this quark phase is gapped, we argue how incident γ-ray photons can be converted into gapped axion-polaritons in the interior of a magnetar star in the MDCDW phase leading the star to collapse, a phenomenon that can serve to explain the so-called missing pulsar problem in the galactic center 

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4. Electromagnetism in quark matter at intermediate densities

   https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202227000022  

   Ferrer, Efrain J. ( January 2022 , EPJ Web of Conferences)

   Bruno, G.E. ; Chiodini, G. ; Colangelo, P. ; Corianò, C. ; Creanza, D.M. ; De Fazio, F. ; Nappi, E. (Ed.)

   Several anomalous electromagnetic effects that can take place in quark matter at low temperatures and intermediate densities will be discussed. The anomalous transport properties of the spatially inhomogeneous phase of quark matter known as the Magnetic Dual Chiral Density Wave (MDCDW) phase will be reviewed. Going beyond mean-field approximation, it will be shown how linearly polarized electromagnetic waves that penetrate the MDCDW medium mix with the phonon fluctuations to give rise to two hybridized modes of propagation called axion polaritons. Finally, some possible implications of these results for the astrophysics of neutron stars will be indicated. 

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5. Axion-polaritons in quark stars: a possible solution to the missing pulsar problem

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-12486-2  

   Ferrer, E. J. ; Incera, V. de la ( February 2024 , The European Physical Journal C)

   This paper proposes an alternative mechanism to solve the so-called missing pulsar problem, a standing paradox between the theoretical expectations about the number of pulsars that should exist in the galaxy center of the Milky Way and their absence in the observations. The mechanism is based on the transformation of incident$$\gamma $$$\gamma$rays into hybridized modes, known as axion-polaritons, which can exist inside highly magnetized quark stars with a quark matter phase known as the magnetic dual chiral density wave phase. This phase, which is favored over several other dense matter phases candidates at densities a few times nuclear saturation density, has already passed several important astrophysical tests. In the proposed mechanism, the absence of young magnetars occurs because as electromagnetic waves inside the star can only propagate through the hybridized modes, incident photons coming from a$$\gamma $$$\gamma$-ray burst get transformed into massless and massive axion polaritons by the Primakoff effect. Once thermalized, the massive axion-polaritons can self-gravitate up to a situation where their total mass overpasses the Chandrasekhar limit for these bosons, producing a mini blackhole that collapses the star.

    

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