Quark-clustering in cold quark matter

Quarks are proposed to be grouped together to make quark-clusters due to the strong interaction in cold quark matter at a few nuclear densities, because a weakly coupling treatment of the interaction between quarks there would be inadequate. Cold quark matter is then conjectured to be in solid state (i.e., forming a crystal structure) if the inter-cluster potential is deep enough to localize clusters in lattice. Such a solid state of cold quark matter would be very necessary for us to understand different manifestations of pulsar-like compact stars, and could not be ruled by first principles.     

A new parametric equation of state and quark stars

It is still a matter of debate to understand the equation of state of cold matter with supra-nuclear density in compact stars because of unknown non-perturbative strong interaction between quarks. Nevertheless, it is speculated from an astrophysical view point that quark clusters could form in cold quark matter due to strong coupling at realistic baryon densities. Although it is hard to calculate this conjectured matter from first principles, one can expect that the inter-cluster interaction will share some general features with the nucleon-nucleon interaction successfully depicted by various models. We adopt a two-Gaussian component soft-core potential with these general features and show that quark clusters can form stable simple cubic crystal structure if we assume that the wave function of quark clusters have a Gaussian form. With this parametrization, the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation is solved with reasonably constrained parameter space to give mass-radius relations of crystalline solid quark stars. With baryon number densities truncated at 2_n0 at surface and the range of the interaction fixed at 2 fm we can reproduce similar mass-radius relations to that obtained with bag model equations of state. The maximum mass ranges from 0.5M_⊙ to 3M_⊙. The recently measured high pulsar mass ( 2M_⊙) is then used to constrain the parameters of this simple interaction potential.     

Quark stars: features and findings

Under extreme conditions of temperature and/or density, quarks and gluons are expected to undergo a deconfinement phase transition. While this is an ephemeral phenomenon at the ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collider (BNL-RHIC), quark matter may exist naturally in the dense interior of neutron stars. Here, we present an appraisal of the possible phase structure of dense quark matter inside neutron stars, and the likelihood of its existence given the current status of neutron star observations. We conclude that quark matter inside neutron stars cannot be dismissed as a possibility, although recent observational evidence rules out most soft equations of state. PACS 97.60.Jd; 26.60.+c     

A corresponding-state approach to quark-cluster matter

The state of super-dense matter is essential for us to understand the nature of pulsars; however, non- perturbative quantum chromodynamics makes it very difficult to make direct calculations of the state of cold matter at realistic baryon number densities inside compact stars. Nevertheless, from an observational point of view, it is conjectured that pulsars could be made up of quark clusters since the strong coupling between quarks might render the quarks to be grouped in clusters. In this paper, we attempt to find an equation of state of condensed quark-cluster matter in a phenomenological way. Supposing that the quark-clusters could be analogized to inert gases, we apply here the corresponding-state approach to derive the equation of state of quark-cluster matter, as was similarly demonstrated for nuclear and neutron-star matter in the 1970s. According to the calculations that we have presented, the quark-cluster stars, which are composed of quark-cluster matter, could have a high maximum mass that is consistent with observations and, in turn, further observations of pulsar mass could also place a constraint on the properties of quark-cluster matter. We will also briefly discuss the melting heat during the solid-liquid phase conversion and its related astrophysical consequences.     

核物质和夸克物质的对称能（英文）

对称能表征了同位旋非对称强相互作用物质状态方程的同位旋相关部分,它对于理解核物理和天体物理中的许多问题有重要意义。简要总结了关于核物质和夸克物质对称能研究的最新进展。对于核物质对称能,通过对核结构,核反应以及中子星的研究,目前对其亚饱和密度的行为已有比较清楚的认识,同时,对饱和密度附近对称能的约束也取得了很好的研究进展。但如何确定核物质对称能的高密行为仍然是一个挑战。另一方面,在极端高重子数密度条件下,强相互作用物质将以退禁闭的夸克物质状态存在。同位旋非对称夸克物质可能存在于致密星内部,也可能产生于极端相对论重离子碰撞中。对最近关于夸克物质对称能对夸克星性质的影响以及重夸克星的存在对夸克物质对称能的约束的研究工作进行了介绍,结果表明同位旋非对称夸克物质中上夸克和下夸克可能感受到很不一样的相互作用,这对于研究极端相对论重离子碰撞中部分子动力学的同位旋效应有重要启发。The symmetry energy characterizes the isospin dependent part of the equation of state of isospin asymmetric strong interaction matter and it plays a critical role in many issues of nuclear physics and astrophysics. In this talk, we briefly review the current status on the determination of the symmetry energy in nucleon (nuclear) and quark matter. For nuclear matter, while the subsaturation density behaviors of the symmetry energy are relatively well-determined and significant progress has been made on the symmetry energy around saturation density, the determination of the suprasaturation density behaviors of the symmetry energy remains a big challenge. For quark matter, which is expected to appear in dense matter at high baryon densities, we briefly review the recent work about the effects of quark matter symmetry energy on the properties of quark stars and the constraint of possible existence of heavy quark stars on quark matter symmetry energy. The results indicate that the u and d quarks could feel very different interactions in isospin asymmetric quark matter, which may have important implications on the isospin effects of partonic dynamics in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.     

Chiral-symmetry restoration in clustered hadronic matter

Chiral-symmetry restoration is usually discussed in the context of quark matter, a system of deconfined quarks. However, many systems like stable nuclei and neutron stars have quarks confined within nucleons. In the present paper we use a Fermi sea of three-quark clusters instead of a Fermi sea of deconfined quarks to investigate the in-medium quark condensate. We find that an enhancement of the chiral breaking in clustered matter as claimed in the literature is not a consequence of the clustering but rather dependent on the microscopic model dynamics.Received: 30 September 2002, Published online: 22 October 2003PACS: 21.65. + f Nuclear matter - 24.85. + p Quarks, gluons, and QCD in nuclei and nuclear processes - 12.39.-x Phenomenological quark models     

Magnetic color-flavor locking phase in high-density QCD

We investigate the effects of an external magnetic field in the gap structure of a color superconductor with three massless quark flavors. Using an effective theory with four-fermion interactions, inspired by one-gluon exchange, we show that the long-range component B of the external magnetic field that penetrates the color-flavor locked phase modifies its gap structure, producing a new phase of lower symmetry. A main outcome of our study is that the B field tends to strengthen the gaps formed by Q-charged and Q-neutral quarks that coupled among themselves through tree-level vertices. These gaps are enhanced by the field-dependent density of states of the Q-charged quarks on the Fermi surface. Our considerations are relevant for the study of highly magnetized compact stars.     

Prospects of detecting baryon and quark superfluidity from cooling neutron stars

Baryon and quark superfluidity in the cooling of neutron stars are investigated. Future observations will allow us to constrain combinations of the neutron or Lambda-hyperon pairing gaps and the star's mass. However, in a hybrid star with a mixed phase of hadrons and quarks, quark gaps larger than a few tenths of an MeV render quark matter virtually invisible for cooling. If the quark gap is smaller, quark superfluidity could be important, but its effects will be nearly impossible to distinguish from those of other baryonic constituents.     

Hybrid stars and quark hadron phase transition in chiral colour dielectric model

We investigate the properties of hybrid stars consisting of quark matter in the core and hadron matter in outer region. The hadronic equation of state (EOS) is calculated by using nonlinear Walecka model. Strange baryons are included in the hadronic EOS calculation. The chiral colour dielectric (CCD) model, in which quarks are confined dynamically, is used to calculate quark matter EOS. We find that the phase transition from hadron to quark matter is possible in a narrow range of the parameters of nonlinear Walecka and CCD models. The transition is strong or weak first order depending on the parameters used. The EOS thus obtained, is used to study the properties of hybrid stars. We find that the calculated hybrid star properties are similar to those of pure neutron stars.     

Quark core stars,quark stars and strange stars

A recent one flavor (zero temperature) quark matter equation of state is generalized to several flavors. It is shown that quarks undergo a first order phase transition. In addition, this equation of state depends on few parameters, one in the two flavor case, two in the three flavor case, and these parameters can be constrained by phenomenology. This equation of state is then applied to 1) the hadronquark transition in neutron stars and the determination of quark star stability, 2) the investigation of strange matter stability and possible strange star existence.     

Generalized isothermal models with strange equation of state

We consider the linear equation of state for matter distributions that may be applied to strange stars with quark matter. In our general approach the compact relativistic body allows for anisotropic pressures in the presence of the electromagnetic field. New exact solutions are found to the Einstein-Maxwell system. A particular case is shown to be regular at the stellar centre. In the isotropic limit we regain the general relativistic isothermal Universe. We show that the mass corresponds to the values obtained previously for quark stars when anisotropy and charge are present.      

Properties of quark matter in a new quasiparticle model with QCD running coupling

The running of the QCD coupling in the effective mass causes thermodynamic inconsistency problem in the conventional quasiparticle model. We provide a novel treatment which removes the inconsistency by an effective bag constant. The chemical potential dependence of the renormalization subtraction point is constrained by the Cauchy condition in the chemical potential space. The stability and microscopic properties of strange quark matter are then studied within the completely self-consistent quasiparticle model, and the obtained equation of state of quark matter is applied to the investigation of strange stars. It is found that our improved model can describe well compact stars with mass about two times the solar mass, which indicates that such massive compact stars could be strange stars.     

准粒子描述下奇异夸克物质自洽热力学及对奇异星物态的影响

考虑夸克粒子间相互作用,研究了在准粒子近似下奇异夸克物质系统的热力学,发现由于热力学自洽的要求,需要在热力学势中额外增加一项.利用这一等效热力学讨论奇异夸克物质的物态方程及声速,得到了一个“软化”的物态,这与质量–密度相关模型是一致的.但准粒子描述模型能够显示介质效应对强相互作用耦合常数的依赖.     

Strange star surface: a crust with nuggets

We reexamine the surface composition of strange stars. Strange quark stars are hypothetical compact stars which could exist if strange quark matter was absolutely stable. It is widely accepted that they are characterized by an enormous density gradient (10(26) g/cm4) and large electric fields at the surface. By investigating the possibility of realizing a heterogeneous crust, comprised of nuggets of strange quark matter embedded in an uniform electron background, we find that the strange star surface has a much reduced density gradient and negligible electric field. We comment on how our findings will impact various proposed observable signatures for strange stars.     

Neutron stars in relativistic hadron-quark models

Neutron star properties are computed in relativistic models that contain both hadron and quark degrees of freedom. Neutron matter is assumed to have a low-density phase described by quantum hadrodynamics (QHD) and a high-density phase described by quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Several different QHD models and approximations are employed; all use parameters that reproduce the binding energy and density of equilibrium nuclear matter. Calculated neutron star properties depend primarily on the high-density equation of state and cannot be inferred from the symmetry energy or compressibility of equilibrium nuclear matter. If interactions are neglected in the QCD phase, the density of the hadron-quark phase transition is determined by one free parameters, which is the energy/volume needed to create a “bubble” that confines the quarks and gluons. Observed neutron star masses do not constrain this parameter, but stable neutron stars with quark cores can exist only for a limited range of parameter values. When second-order gluon-exchange corrections are included in the QCD phase, these conclusions are unchanged, and the parameter values that lead to stable hadronquark stars are restricted even further.     

Phase diagram of neutron star quark matter in nonlocal chiral models

We analyze the phase diagram of two-flavor quark matter under neutron star constraints for a nonlocal covariant quark model within the mean-field approximation. Applications to cold compact stars are discussed.     

Spin-Dependent Forces and Current Quark Masses

The J = (3/2) , J = 1/2 Nucleon mass difference shows the quark energies can be spin dependent. It is natural to expect that the quark wave functions also depend on spin. A spin-dependent quark force is fitted to the proton and neutron magnetic moments, axial charge, and spin content using a (1/2⁺)³ configuration for the quarks and assuming only zero mass u and d quarks are in the nucleon. In the octet, such spin-dependent forces lead to different wave functions for quarks with spin parallel or antiparallel to the nucleon spin. The eigen-energy of this potential is 0.15 GeV higher for quark spin parallel than for the quark spin antiparallel to the proton spin. This potential predicts a single quark energy of 0.37 GeV for mass-less quarks in the Delta. Assuming the quark forces are flavor independent, this potential predicts magnetic moments of a bound strange quark to be very close to those determined empirically from the octet magnetic moments.     

Is the universe homogeneous and isotropic in the time when quark-gluon plasma exists?

In this study, quark and strange quark matter which exist in the first seconds of the early Universe have been studied in the context of general relativity to be able to obtain space–time geometry of first seconds of the early Universe. For this purpose, Einstein’s field equations for quark and strange quark matter in the non static spherically symmetric space–time have been solved by using experimental result that anisotropy parameter of quark matter is very small. We have concluded from obtained solutions that the space–time structure of first seconds of the Early Universe is homogeneous and isotropic. Also we have concluded that the color interactions of the quarks may be origin of primordial magnetic field in the early universe.     

Two-flavor quark matter in the perturbation theory with full thermodynamic consistency

Direct extrapolation of the strong interaction between quarks in pure perturbative calculation has a problem of thermodynamic inconsistency.A new term determined by thermodynamic consistency requirement could resolve it.This new term plays an important role at lower density in describing the equation of state of quark matter,while it is negligible at high density.Accordingly,the density behavior of the sound velocity becomes more reasonable,and the maximum mass of quark stars can be as large as two times the solar mass.