No Arabic abstract
We study the thermodynamics of two flavor color superconducting (2SC) quark matter within a nonlocal chiral quark model, using both instantaneous and covariant nonlocal interactions. For applications to compact stars, we impose conditions of electric and color charge neutrality as well as beta equilibrium and construct a phase transition to the hadronic matter phase described within the Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock (DBHF) approach. We obtain mass-radius relations for hybrid star configurations which fulfill modern observational constraints, including compact star masses above 2 M_sun.
We analyze the features of strongly interacting matter in the presence of nonzero isospin chemical potential $mu_I$, within a nonlocal two-flavor Polyakov-Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model. For a system at finite temperature $T$, we describe the behavior of various thermodynamic quantities and study the phase diagram in the $mu_I - T$ plane. In particular, it is found that for values of $mu_I$ larger than the pion mass and temperatures lower than a critical value of about 170 MeV the system lies in an isospin symmetry broken phase signaled by the presence of a nonzero pion condensate. Our results for the phase diagram are found to be in better agreement with those arising from lattice QCD calculations, as compared to the predictions from other theoretical approaches like the local PNJL model.
Aims: We present a new microscopic hadron-quark hybrid equation of state model for astrophysical applications, from which compact hybrid star configurations are constructed. These are composed of a quark core and a hadronic shell with a first-order phase transition at their interface. The resulting mass-radius relations are in accordance with the latest astrophysical constraints. Methods: The quark matter description is based on a quantum chromodynamics (QCD) motivated chiral approach with higher-order quark interactions in the Dirac scalar and vector coupling channels. For hadronic matter we select a relativistic mean-field equation of state with density-dependent couplings. Since the nucleons are treated in the quasi-particle framework, an excluded volume correction has been included for the nuclear equation of state at suprasaturation density which takes into account the finite size of the nucleons. Results: These novel aspects, excluded volume in the hadronic phase and the higher-order repulsive interactions in the quark phase, lead to a strong first-order phase transition with large latent heat, i.e. the energy-density jump at the phase transition, which fulfils a criterion for a disconnected third-family branch of compact stars in the mass-radius relationship. These twin stars appear at high masses ($sim$ 2 M$_odot$) that are relevant for current observations of high-mass pulsars. Conclusions: This analysis offers a unique possibility by radius observations of compact stars to probe the QCD phase diagram at zero temperature and large chemical potential and even to support the existence of a critical point in the QCD phase diagram.
We analyze the equation of state of 2+1 flavor lattice QCD at zero baryon density by constructing the simple quark-hadron hybrid model that has both quark and hadron components simultaneously. We calculate hadron and quark contribution separately and parameterizing those to match with LQCD data. Lattice data on the equation of state are decomposed into hadron and quark components by using the model. The transition temperature is defined by the temperature at which the hadron component is equal to the quark one in the equation of state. The transition temperature thus obtained is about 215 MeV and somewhat higher than the chiral and the deconfinement pseudocritical temperatures defined by the temperature at which the susceptibility or the absolute value of the derivative of the order parameter with respect to temperature becomes maximum.
We study the behavior of two-flavor dense quark matter under the influence of an external magnetic field in the framework of a nonlocal chiral quark model with separable interactions. The nonlocality is incorporated in the model by using a Gaussian form factor. It is found that for low and moderate values of magnetic field there is a decrease of the critical chiral restoration chemical potential $mu_c$, i.e. an inverse magnetic catalysis effect is observed. For larger values of $eB$ the behavior of $mu_c$ becomes more or less flat, depending on the parametrization. Within the considered parametrization range we do not find a significant growth of the critical chemical potential for large magnetic fields, as occurs in the case of the local NJL model.
The effect of pasta phases on the quark-hadron phase transition is investigated for a set of relativistic mean-field equations of state for both hadron and quark matter. The results of the full numerical solution with pasta phases are compared with those of an interpolating construction used in previous works, for which we demonstrate an adequate description of the numerical results. A one-to-one mapping of the free parameter of the construction to the physical surface tension of the quark-hadron interface is obtained for which a fit formula is given. For each pair of quark and hadron matter models the critical value of the surface tension is determined, above which the phase transition becomes close to the Maxwell construction. This result agrees well with earlier theoretical estimates. The study is extended to neutron star matter in beta equilibrium with electrons and muons and is applied to investigate the effect of pasta phases on the structure of hybrid compact stars and the robustness of a possible third family solution.