Search Results (5)

Binary neutron star mergers and proto-neutron stars provide unique environments where dense matter is hot, lepton-rich, and potentially undergoes a transition from hadronic to deconfined quark matter. We investigate the thermodynamics and stellar properties of hybrid matter under such conditions. The hadronic phase is described within a covariant density functional framework, while the quark phase is modeled using a Nambu–Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model that includes repulsive vector interactions, the axial $U_A\left(1\right)$-breaking ’t Hooft determinant interaction, and two-flavor color-superconducting (2SC) pairing. The phase transition between hadronic and quark matter is constructed using a mixed-phase prescription that enforces baryon and lepton number conservation, allowing us to follow thermodynamic trajectories at fixed entropy per baryon and a fixed lepton fraction. We analyze the phase structure of dense matter at a finite temperature and study the composition of the hadronic, mixed, and quark phases in both neutrino-trapped and neutrino-free regimes. Our results show that neutrino trapping significantly modifies the particle composition and shifts the onset of deconfinement to higher densities. The mixed phase exhibits a density-dependent pressure due to the presence of multiple conserved charges. Using the resulting equations of state, we compute static stellar configurations and examine the influence of the temperature and lepton content on the mass–radius relation in hybrid stars. Hot, neutrino-rich configurations are found to have larger radii and slightly higher maximum masses than their cold counterparts. As the star cools and deleptonizes, its radius contracts at an approximately constant baryonic mass, potentially triggering changes in the internal phase structure. These results highlight the roles of color superconductivity, lepton trapping, and thermal effects in shaping the structure and evolution of hybrid stars in transient astrophysical environments. Full article

A quark-nova is a hypothetical stellar evolution branch where a neutron star converts explosively into a quark star. Here, we discuss the intimate coupling between the micro-physics and macro-physics of the quark-nova and provide a prescription for how to couple the Burn-UD code to the stellar evolution code in order to simulate neutron-star-to-quark-star burning at stellar scales and estimate the resulting energy release and ejecta. Once formed, the thermal evolution of the proto-quark star follows. We found much higher peak neutrino luminosities (>10${}^{55}$ erg/s) and a higher energy neutrino (i.e., harder) spectrum than previous stellar evolution studies of proto-neutron stars. We derived the neutrino counts that observatories such as Super-Kamiokande-III and Halo-II should expect and suggest how these can differentiate between a supernova and a quark-nova. Due to the high peak neutrino luminosities, neutrino pair annihilation can deposit as much as ${10}^{52}$ ergs in kinetic energy in the matter overlaying the neutrinosphere, yielding relativistic quark-nova ejecta. We show how the quark-nova could help us understand many still enigmatic high-energy astrophysical transients, such as super-luminous supernovae, gamma-ray bursts and fast radio bursts. Full article

The integral parameters (mass, radius) of hot proto-quark stars that are formed in supernova explosion are studied. We use the MIT bag model to determine the pressure of up-down and strage quark matter at finite temperature and in the regime where neutrinos are trapped. It is shown that such stars are heated to temperatures of the order of tens of MeV. The maximum possible values of the central temperatures of these stars are determined. It is shown that the energy of neutrinos that are emitted from proto-quark stars is of the order of $250÷300$ MeV. Once formed, the proto-quark stars cool by neutrino emission, which leads to a decrease in the mass of these stars by about 0.16–0.25 $M_{\odot }$ for stars with the rest masses that are in the range $M_b=1.22-1.62 M_{\odot }$. Full article

Various phase transitions could have taken place in the early universe, and may occur in the course of heavy-ion collisions and supernova explosions, in proto-neutron stars, in cold compact stars, and in the condensed matter at terrestrial conditions. Most generally, the dynamics of the density and temperature at first- and second-order phase transitions can be described with the help of the equations of non-ideal hydrodynamics. In the given work, some novel solutions are found describing the evolution of quasiperiodic structures that are formed in the course of the phase transitions. Although this consideration is very general, particular examples of quark-hadron and nuclear liquid-gas first-order phase transitions to the uniform $k_0=0$ state and of a pion-condensate second-order phase transition to a non-uniform $k_0\ne 0$ state in dense baryon matter are considered. Full article

In the first part of this paper, we investigate the possible existence of a structured hadron-quark mixed phase in the cores of neutron stars. This phase, referred to as the hadron-quark pasta phase, consists of spherical blob, rod, and slab rare phase geometries. Particular emphasis is given to modeling the size of this phase in rotating neutron stars. We use the relativistic mean-field theory to model hadronic matter and the non-local three-flavor Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model to describe quark matter. Based on these models, the hadron-quark pasta phase exists only in very massive neutron stars, whose rotational frequencies are less than around 300 Hz. All other stars are not dense enough to trigger quark deconfinement in their cores. Part two of the paper deals with the quark-hadron composition of hot (proto) neutron star matter. To this end we use a local three-flavor Polyakov–Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model which includes the ’t Hooft (quark flavor mixing) term. It is found that this term leads to non-negligible changes in the particle composition of (proto) neutron stars made of hadron-quark matter. Full article