Hyperonic neutron stars: reconciliation between nuclear properties and NICER and LIGO/VIRGO results

Using an extended version of quantum hadrodynamics,I propose a new microscopic equation of state(EoS)that is able to correctly reproduce the main properties of symmetric nuclear matter at the saturation density,as well as produce massive neutron stars and satisfactory results for the radius and the tidal parameter.I show that this EoS can reproduce at least a 2.00 solar mass neutron star,even when hyperons are present.The constraints about the radius of a 2.00 M_⊙ and the minimum mass that enables a direct Urea effect are also checked.     

Neutral color-spin-locking phase in neutron stars

We present results for the spin-1 color-spin-locking (CSL) phase using a NJL-type model in two-flavor quark matter for compact stars applications. The CSL condensate is flavor symmetric and therefore charge and color neutrality can easily be satisfied. We find small energy gaps ≃ 1MeV, which make the CSL matter composition and the EoS not very different from the normal quark matter phase. We keep finite quark masses in our calculations and obtain no gapless modes that could have strong consequences in the late cooling of neutron stars. Finally, we show that the region of the phase diagram relevant for neutron star cores, when asymmetric flavor pairing is suppressed, could be covered by the CSL phase.     

Slowly rotating neutron stars and hadronic stars in the chiral SU(3) quark mean-field model

The equations of state for neutron matter, strange and non-strange hadronic matter in the chiral SU(3) quark mean-field model are applied in the study of slowly rotating neutron stars and hadronic stars. The radius, mass, moment of inertia, and other physical quantities are carefully examined. The effect of the nucleon crust for the strange hadronic star is exhibited. Our results show that the rotation can increase the maximum mass of compact stars significantly. For a big enough mass of pulsars which cannot be explained as strange hadronic stars, theoretical approaches to increase the maximum mass are addressed.     

Phase transition to color-flavor-locked matter and condensation of Goldstone bosons in neutron star matter

Deconfinement phase transition and condensation of Goldstone bosons in neutron star matter are investigated in a chiral hadronic model (also referred as to the FST model) for the hadronic phase (HP) and in the color-flavor-locked (CFL) quark model for the deconfined quark phase. It is shown that the hadronic-CFL mixed phase (MP) exists in the center of neutron stars with a small bag constant, while the CFL quark matter cannot appear in neutron stars when a large bag constant is taken. Color superconductivity softens the equation of state (EOS) and decreases the maximum mass of neutron stars compared with the unpaired quark matter. The K⁰ condensation in the CFL phase has no remarkable contribution to the EOS and properties of neutron star matter. The EOS and the properties of neutron star matter are sensitive to the bag constant B, the strange quark mass m_s and the color superconducting gap Δ. Increasing B and m_s or decreasing Δ can stiffen the EOS which results in the larger maximum masses of neutron stars.     

Relationship between the symmetry energy and the single-nucleon potential in isospin-asymmetric nucleonic matter

When skyrmions representing nucleons are put on crystal lattice and compressed to simulate high density, there is a transition above the normal nuclear matter density (n₀) from a matter consisting of skyrmions with integer baryon charge to a state of half-skyrmions with half-integer baryon charge. We exploit this observation in an effective field theory framework to access dense baryonic system. We find that the topology change involved in the transition implies changeover from a Fermi liquid structure to a non-Fermi liquid with the chiral condensate in the “melted-off” nucleon. The ～ 80% of the nucleon mass that remains “unmelted”, invariant under chiral transformation, points to the possible origin of the (bulk of) proton mass that is not encoded in the standard mechanism of spontaneously broken chiral symmetry. The topology change engenders a drastic modification of the nuclear tensor forces, thereby non-trivially affecting the EoS, in particular, the symmetry energy, for compact star matter. It brings in stiffening of the EoS needed to accommodate a neutron star of ～ 2 solar mass. The strong effect on the EoS in general and in the tensor force structure in particular will also have impact on processes that could be measured at RIB-type accelerators.     

Structure and cooling of compact stars

We study the structure and evolution of neutron stars (NSs), the interiors of which are modeled using microscopic approaches and constrained by the condition that the equation of state (EoS) of matter extrapolated to high densities should not contradict known observational data from compact stars and experimental data from heavy-ion collisions (HIC). We use modern cooling simulations to extract distributions of NS masses required to reproduce those of the yet sparse data in the Temperature-Age (TA) plane. By comparing the results with the mass distribution for young, nearby NSs used in population synthesis, we can sharpen the NS cooling constraints. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Dark matter, neutron stars, and strange quark matter

We show that self-annihilating weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter accreted onto neutron stars may provide a mechanism to seed compact objects with long-lived lumps of strange quark matter, or strangelets, for WIMP masses above a few GeV. This effect may trigger a conversion of most of the star into a strange star. We use an energy estimate for the long-lived strangelet based on the Fermi-gas model combined with the MIT bag model to set a new limit on the possible values of the WIMP mass that can be especially relevant for subdominant species of massive neutralinos.     

Massive neutron stars and their implications

Recent observations of high mass pulsar PSRJ1614-2230 has raised serious debate over the possible role of exotics in the dense core of neutron stars. The precise measurement of mass of the pulsar may play a very important role in limiting equation of state (EoS) of dense matter and its composition. Indirectly, it may also shape our understanding of the nucleon–hyperon or hyperon–hyperon interactions which is not well known. Within the framework of an effective chiral model, we compute models of neutron stars and analyse the hyperon composition in them. Further related implications are also discussed.     

Neutrino emissivity of the nucleon direct URCA process for rotational traditional and hyperonic neutron stars

Based on covariant density functional theory, we study the effects of rotation on the nucleon direct URCA(N-DURCA) process for traditional and hyperonic neutron stars. The calculated results indicate that, for a fixed mass sequence of rotational traditional neutron stars, the neutrino emissivity of the star is nearly invariant with increasing frequency, while it always increases for rotational hyperonic neutron stars. Thus, rotation has different effects on the N-DURCA process for these two kinds of neutron stars.     

Ultimate energy density of observable cold baryonic matter

We demonstrate that the largest measured mass of a neutron star establishes an upper bound to the energy density of observable cold baryonic matter. An equation of state-independent expression satisfied by both normal neutron stars and self-bound quark matter stars is derived for the largest energy density of matter inside stars as a function of their masses. The largest observed mass sets the lowest upper limit to the density. Implications from existing and future neutron star mass measurements are discussed.     

Assessment of Neutron Star Equation of State by Gravitational Waves

The possibility of assessing the equation of state of the neutron star matter using gravitational waves is briefly sketched. The effective theory recently proposed in the frame work of the scale-invariant hidden local symmetry is discussed to demonstrate its particular feature of a change over in EoS from lower density to higher density. The possible implications on the gravitational waves from coalescing binary neutron stars are discussed.     

The Properties of Pure Neutron Star

For a given equation of state of neutron matter in the relativistic σ-ω model, ๏๏๏๏๏ including the vacuum fluctuation of neutron and σ meson, the properties of pure neutron star are studied. We find that the maximum mass of pure neutron star is ～ 2.0 M_{\odot}. At the same time, the influence of incompressibility of the nuclear matter to the properties of neutron star is also studied. We also find that the maximum mass of neutron stars decreases as equation of state of neutron matter becomes softer.     

Hadrons in compact stars

We discuss β-equilibrated and charge neutral matter involving hyperons and {ie817-1} condensates within relativistic models. It is observed that populations of baryons are strongly affected by the presence of antikaon condensates. Also, the equation of state including {ie817-2} condensates becomes softer resulting in a smaller maximum mass neutron star     

Hypernuclear physics for neutron stars

The role of hypernuclear physics for the physics of neutron stars is delineated. Hypernuclear potentials in dense matter control the hyperon composition of dense neutron star matter. The three-body interactions of nucleons and hyperons determine the stiffness of the neutron star equation of state and thereby the maximum neutron star mass. Two-body hyperon–nucleon and hyperon–hyperon interactions give rise to hyperon pairing which exponentially suppresses cooling of neutron stars via the direct hyperon URCA processes. Nonmesonic weak reactions with hyperons in dense neutron star matter govern the gravitational wave emissions due to the r-mode instability of rotating neutron stars.     

Thermal properties and detectability of neutron stars - I cooling and heating of neutron stars

In this report, we first review earlier and recent developments in some of thermodynamic problems of neutron stars, especially those involving cooling mechanisms and theoretical predictions of surface temperatures of neutron stars. Emphasis is placed particularly on: the effect of equations of state and hence that of nuclear and strong interactions; the effect of better treatment of various neutrino cooling mechanisms, especially those involving pion condensates; and implication of these better and more detailed theoretical estimates on the prospect of directly observing thermal radiation from the surface of neutron stars. In connection with the last problem, we briefly review recent developments on the observational side — the HEAO-B and other programs already existing or expected to be planned for near future, which are directly related to the above problem. In connection with the possibilities of observing older neutron stars we briefly summarise various heating mechanisms.From these studies, we see that exciting possibilities exist through the HEAO-B and some other programs which may be realised in the 1980's, that we may observe radiation directly from neutron star surfaces if they are ? (3?5) × 10⁵°K. If such radiation is detected, the observed surface temperatures and further spectral studies may give invaluable insight into various important problems, such as magnetic properties of dense matter, equations of state, pion condensates, and other fundamental problems in nuclear, particle and high energy physics. If the surface temperatures of younger members of these stars (? 10⁴ years) are observationally found to be less than ≈ (5?10) × 10⁵°K (depending on the individual objects), we note that at the moment only pion coolings are consistent with observations, and the outcome may be equally far reaching. Among various observed neutron stars (pulsars) and neutron star candidates (e.g. supernova remnants), the Vela pulsar may prove to be the most rewarding one. If regular pulsar-like periodicities are discovered in radiations from any of supernova remnants, we can assume the presence of neutron stars in these objects. In that case, some supernova remnants, such as SN 1006, may also turn out to be promising. If we defect surface radiations from older pulsars (? 10⁵ years), that may support some of heating theories. At the end, we point out that there may be many point sources of very soft weak thermal X-rays across the sky (as old neutron stars accrete interstellar matter) and some of the closest ones may be detectable through the HEAO-B and similar devices.     

Limiting angular velocity of realistic relativistic neutron star models

The Keplerian velocity as well as those frequencies at which instability against gravitational radiation-reaction sets in are calculated for rotating neutron star models of gravitational mass 1.5M . The investigation is based on four different, realistic neutron star matter equations of state. Our results indicate that the gravitational radiation instability sets in wellbelow (i.e., 63–71% of) the Keplerian frequency, and thatyoung neutron stars are limited to rotational periods greater than about 1 ms. In young and therefore hot (T10¹⁰ K) neutron stars them=5(±1) modes and in old stars after being spun up and reheated by mass accretion, them=4 and/orm=3 modes may set the limit on stable rotation.Dedicated to Prof. Dr. H.J. Mang on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

Influences of the bag constant on properties of hybrid stars

Influences of the bag constant on the properties of hybrid stars are investigated by using relativistic mean field theory and the MIT bag model to describe the hadron phase and quark phase in the interior of neutron stars, respectively. Our results indicate that the onset of hadron-quark phase transition is put off and the appearance of hyperon species is increased with the increase in bag constant. As a result, the hybrid star equation of state for a mixed phase range stiffens whereas that of the quark phase range softens, and the gravitational mass as well as the corresponding radius of hybrid stars are increased obviously. The gravitational mass of a hybrid star is increased from 1.42 Mo (M<,⊙> is solar mass) to 1.63M<,⊙> and the corresponding radius is changed from 9.1 km to 12.2 km when the bag constant (B<'1/4>) is increased from 170 MeV to 200 MeV. It is interesting to find that hybrid star equations of state become non-smooth when the TM2 parameter sets in the framework of relativistic mean field theory used to describe the hadronic matter, and consequently, the third family of compact stars appear in the mass-radius relations of hybrid stars in the narrow scope of the bag constant from 175 MeV to 180 MeV. These show that the choice of the bag constant in the MIT bag model has significant influence on the properties of hybrid stars.     

Gravitational waves from the axial perturbations of hyperon stars

The eigen-frequencies of the axial w-mode oscillations of hyperon stars are examined.It is shown that as the appearance of hyperons softens the equation of state of the super-density matter,the frequency of gravitational waves from the axial w-mode of hyperon star becomes smaller than that of a traditional neutron star at the same stellar mass.Moreover,the eigenfrequencies of hyperon stars also have scaling universality.It is shown that the EURO thirdgeneration gravitational-wave detector has the potential to detect the gravitational-wave signal emitted from the axial w-mode oscillations of a hyperon star.