No Arabic abstract
The detection of an unexpected $sim 2.5 M_{odot}$ component in the gravitational wave event GW190814 has puzzled the community of High-Energy astrophysicists, since in the absence of further information it is not clear whether this is the heaviest neutron star ever detected or either the lightest black hole known, of a kind absent in the local neighbourhood. We show in this work a few possibilities for a model of the former, in the framework of three different quark matter models with and without anisotropy in the interior pressure. As representatives of classes of exotic solutions, we show that even though the stellar sequences may reach this ballpark, it is difficult to fulfill simultaneously the constraint of the radius as measured by the NICER team for the pulsar PSR J0030+0451. Thus, and assuming both measurements stand, compact neutron stars can not be all made of self-bound quark matter, even within anisotropic solutions which boost the maximum mass well above the $sim 2.5 M_{odot}$ figure. We also point out that a very massive compact star will limit the absolute maximum matter density in the present Universe to be less than 6 times the nuclear saturation value.
On 2019 April 25, the LIGO Livingston detector observed a compact binary coalescence with signal-to-noise ratio 12.9. The Virgo detector was also taking data that did not contribute to detection due to a low signal-to-noise ratio, but were used for subsequent parameter estimation. The 90% credible intervals for the component masses range from 1.12 to 2.52 $M_{odot}$ (1.45 to 1.88 $M_{odot}$ if we restrict the dimensionless component spin magnitudes to be smaller than 0.05). These mass parameters are consistent with the individual binary components being neutron stars. However, both the source-frame chirp mass $1.44^{+0.02}_{-0.02} M_{odot}$ and the total mass $3.4^{+0.3}_{-0.1},M_{odot}$ of this system are significantly larger than those of any other known binary neutron star system. The possibility that one or both binary components of the system are black holes cannot be ruled out from gravitational-wave data. We discuss possible origins of the system based on its inconsistency with the known Galactic binary neutron star population. Under the assumption that the signal was produced by a binary neutron star coalescence, the local rate of neutron star mergers is updated to $250-2810 text{Gpc}^{-3}text{yr}^{-1}$.
Identifying planets around O-type and B-type stars is inherently difficult; the most massive known planet host has a mass of only about $3M_{odot}$. However, planetary systems which survive the transformation of their host stars into white dwarfs can be detected via photospheric trace metals, circumstellar dusty and gaseous discs, and transits of planetary debris crossing our line-of-sight. These signatures offer the potential to explore the efficiency of planet formation for host stars with masses up to the core-collapse boundary at $approx 8M_{odot}$, a mass regime rarely investigated in planet formation theory. Here, we establish limits on where both major and minor planets must reside around $approx 6M_{odot}-8M_{odot}$ stars in order to survive into the white dwarf phase. For this mass range, we find that intact terrestrial or giant planets need to leave the main sequence beyond approximate minimum star-planet separations of respectively about 3 and 6 au. In these systems, rubble pile minor planets of radii 10, 1.0, and 0.1 km would have been shorn apart by giant branch radiative YORP spin-up if they formed and remained within, respectively, tens, hundreds and thousands of au. These boundary values would help distinguish the nature of the progenitor of metal-pollution in white dwarf atmospheres. We find that planet formation around the highest mass white dwarf progenitors may be feasible, and hence encourage both dedicated planet formation investigations for these systems and spectroscopic analyses of the highest mass white dwarfs.
By assuming the formation of a black hole soon after the merger event of GW170817, Shibata et al. updated the constraints on the maximum mass ($M_textrm{max}$) of a stable neutron star within $lesssim$ 2.3 $M_{odot}$, but there is no solid evidence to rule out $M_textrm{max}>2.3~M_{odot}$ from the point of both microphysical and astrophysical views. In order to explain massive pulsars, it is naturally expected that the equation of state (EOS) would become stiffer beyond a specific density. In this paper, we consider the possibility of EOSs with $M_textrm{max}>2.3~M_{odot}$, investigating the stiffness and the transition density in a polytropic model. Two kinds of neutron stars are considered, i.e., normal neutron stars (the density vanishes on gravity-bound surface) and strange stars (a sharp density discontinuity on self-bound surface). The polytropic model has only two parameter inputs in both cases: ($rho_{rm t}$, $gamma$) for gravity-bound objects, while ($rho_{rm s}$, $gamma$) for self-bound ones, with $rho_{rm t}$ the transition density, $rho_{rm s}$ the surface density and $gamma$ the polytropic exponent. In the matter of $M_textrm{max}>2.3~M_{odot}$, it is found that the smallest $rho_{rm t}$ and $gamma$ should be $sim 0.50~rho_0$ and $sim 2.65$ for normal neutron stars, respectively, whereas for strange star, we have $gamma > 1.40$ if $rho_{rm s} > 1.0~rho_0$ and $rho_{rm s} < 1.58~rho_0$ if $gamma <2.0$ ($rho_0$ is the nuclear saturation density). These parametric results could guide further research of the real EOS with any foundation of microphysics if a pulsar mass higher than $2.3~M_{odot}$ is measured in the future. We also derive rough results of common neutron star radius range, which is $9.8~rm{km} < R_{1.4} < 13.8~rm{km}$ for normal neutron stars and $10.5~rm{km} < R_{1.4} < 12.5~rm{km}$ for strange stars.
A compact star with superconducting quark core, the hadron crust and the mixed phase between the two is considered. The quark meson coupling model for hadron matter and the color flavor locked quark model for quark matter is used in order to construct the equation of state for the compact star. The effect of pairing of quarks in the color flavor locked phase and the mixed phase on the mass, radius, and period of the rotating star is studied.
To investigate the missing compact star of Supernova 1987A, we analyzed both the cooling and the heating processes of a possible compact star based on the upper limit of observational X-ray luminosity. From the cooling process we found that a solid quark-cluster star, which has a stiffer equation of state than that of conventional liquid quark star, has a heat capacity much smaller than a neutron star. It can cool down quickly, which can naturally explain the non-detection of a point source (neutron star or quark star) in X-ray band. On the other hand, we consider the heating process from magnetospheric activity and possible accretion, and obtain some constraints to the parameters of a possible pulsar. We conclude that a solid quark-cluster star can be fine with the observational limit in a large and acceptable parameter space. A pulsar with a short period and a strong magnetic field (or with a long period and a weak field) would has luminosity higher than the luminosity limit if the optical depth is not large enough to hide the compact star. The constraints of the pulsar parameters can be tested if the central compact object in 1987A is discovered by advanced facilities in the future.