No Arabic abstract
This paper provides an overview of the possible role of Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QDC) for neutron stars and strange stars. The fundamental degrees of freedom of QCD are quarks, which may exist as unconfined (color superconducting) particles in the cores of neutron stars. There is also the theoretical possibility that a significantly large number of up, down, and strange quarks may settle down in a new state of matter known as strange quark matter, which, by hypothesis, could be more stable than atomic nuclei. In the latter case new classes of self-bound, color superconducting objects, ranging from strange quark nuggets to strange quark stars, should exist. The properties of such objects will be reviewed along with the possible existence of deconfined quarks in neutron stars. Implications for observational astrophysics are pointed out.
In this paper, we use a three flavor non-local Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model, an~improved effective model of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) at low energies, to investigate the existence of deconfined quarks in the cores of neutron stars. Particular emphasis is put on the possible existence of quark matter in the cores of rotating neutron stars (pulsars). In contrast to non-rotating neutron stars, whose particle compositions do not change with time (are frozen in), the type and structure of the matter in the cores of rotating neutron stars depends on the spin frequencies of these stars, which opens up a possible new window on the nature of matter deep in the cores of neutron stars. Our study shows that, depending on mass and rotational frequency, up to around 8% of the mass of a massive neutron star may be in the mixed quark-hadron phase, if the phase transition is treated as a Gibbs transition. We also find that the gravitational mass at which quark deconfinement occurs in rotating neutron stars varies quadratically with spin frequency, which can be fitted by a simple formula.
Compact stars may contain quark matter in their interiors at densities exceeding several times the nuclear saturation density. We explore models of such compact stars where there are two first-order phase transitions: the first from nuclear matter to a quark-matter phase, followed at higher density by another first-order transition to a different quark matter phase [e.g., from the two-flavor color superconducting (2SC) to the color-flavor-locked (CFL) phase). We show that this can give rise to two separate branches of hybrid stars, separated from each other and from the nuclear branch by instability regions and, therefore, to a new family of compact stars, denser than the ordinary hybrid stars. In a range of parameters, one may obtain twin hybrid stars (hybrid stars with the same masses but different radii) and even triplets where three stars, with inner cores of nuclear matter, 2SC matter, and CFL matter, respectively, all have the same mass but different radii.
A proto-neutron star (PNS) is a newly formed compact object in a core collapse supernova. In this Letter, the neutrino emission from the cooling process of a PNS is investigated using two types of nuclear equation of state (EOS). It is found that the neutrino signal is mainly determined by the high-density EOS. The neutrino luminosity and mean energy are higher and the cooling time scale is longer for the softer EOS. Meanwhile, the neutrino mean energy and the cooling time scale are also affected by the low-density EOS because of the difference in the population of heavy nuclei. Heavy nuclei have a large scattering cross section with neutrinos owing to the coherent effects and act as thermal insulation near the surface of a PNS. The neutrino mean energy is higher and the cooling time scale is longer for an EOS with a large symmetry energy at low densities, namely a small density derivative coefficient of the symmetry energy, $L$.
Dark Matter constitutes most of the matter in the presently accepted cosmological model for our Universe. The extreme conditions of ordinary baryonic matter, namely high density and compactness, in Neutron Stars make these objects suitable to gravitationally accrete such a massive component provided interaction strength between both, luminous and dark sectors, at current experimental level of sensitivity. We consider several different DM phenomenological models from the myriad of those presently allowed. In this contribution we review astrophysical aspects of interest in the interplay of ordinary matter and a fermionic light Dark Matter component. We focus in the interior nuclear medium in the core and external layers, i.e. the crust, discussing the impact of a novel dark sector in relevant stellar quantities for (heat) energy transport such as thermal conductivity or emissivities.
Observations to date cannot distinguish neutron stars from self-bound bare quark stars on the basis of their gross physical properties such as their masses and radii alone. However, their surface luminosity and spectral characteristics can be significantly different. Unlike a normal neutron star, a bare quark star can emit photons from its surface at super-Eddington luminosities for an extended period of time. We present a calculation of the photon bremsstrahlung rate from the bare quark stars surface, and indicate improvements that are required for a complete characterization of the spectrum. The observation of this distinctive photon spectrum would constitute an unmistakable signature of a strange quark star and shed light on color superconductivity at stellar densities.