The equation of state of neutron star matter is examined in terms of the relativistic mean-field theory, including a scalar-isovector $δ$-meson effective field. The constants of the theory are determined numerically so that the empirically known characteristics of symmetric nuclear matter are reproduced at the saturation density. The thermodynamic characteristics of both asymmetric nucleonic matter and $β$-equilibrium hadron-electron $npe$-plasmas are studied. Assuming that the transition to strange quark matter is an ordinary first-order phase transition described by Maxwell's rule, a detailed study is made of the variations in the parameters of the phase transition owing to the presence of a $δ$-meson field. The quark phase is described using an improved version of the bag model, in which interactions between quarks are accounted for in a one-gluon exchange approximation. The characteristics of the phase transition are determined for various values of the bag parameter within the range $B\in[60,120]$ $MeV/fm^{3}$ and it is shown that including a $δ$-meson field leads to a reduction in the phase transition pressure $P_{0}$ and in the concentrations $n_{N}$ and $n_{Q}$ at the phase transition point.
Equation of state for superdense nuclear matter is considered in the framework of relativistic mean-field theory, when the scalar-isovector -meson effective field is taken into account, as well. Assuming that the transition to the strange quark matter is a usual first-order phase transition described by Maxwells construction, the changes of the parameters of phase transition caused by the presence of -meson field are investigated. To describe a quark phase the advanced version of the MIT bag model is used, in which the interactions between quarks are taken into account in the one-gluon exchang…
Calculation of The Abundance of $^{187}$Re-$^{187}$Os Nuclear Clock Nuclides in S-process and Sensitivity Analysis of Maxwellian-Averaged Neutron Capture Cross Sections
We investigate the equations of state for pure neutron matter and strange hadronic matter in $β$-equilibrium, including $Λ$, $Σ$ and $Ξ$ hyperons. The masses and radii of pure neutron stars and strange hadronic stars are obtained. For a pure neutron star, the maximum mass is about $1.8 M_{\mathrm{sun}}$, while for a strange hadronic star, the maximum mass is around $1.45 M_{\mathrm{sun}}$. The typical radii of pure neutron stars and strange hadronic stars are about 11.0-12.3 km and 10.7-11.7 km, respectively.
A brief survey is presented of our present understanding of the equation-of-state of cold, dense matter and the speed of sound in the interior of neutron stars, based on the constraints inferred from observational data. The second part focuses on strangeness in baryonic matter and the role of hyperon-nuclear two- and three-body forces, with reference to the "hyperon puzzle" in neutron stars and possible scenarios for its solution.
Recent developments of chiral effective field theory (ChEFT) applications to nuclear and neutron matter are summarized, with special emphasis on a (non-perturbative) extension using functional renormalisation group methods. Topics include: nuclear thermodynamics, extrapolations to dense baryonic matter and constraints from neutron star observables. Hyperon-nuclear interactions derived from SU(3) will be discussed with reference to the "hyperon puzzle" in neutron star matter.
The formation of dibaryons with strangeness are discussed for the interior of neutron stars and for central relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We derive limits for the properties of H-dibaryons from pulsar data. Signals for the formation of possible bound states with hyperons at BNL's Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) are investigated by studying their weak decay patterns and production rates.
In order to obtain the properties of compact stellar objects, appropriate equations of state have to be used. In the literature, strange meson fields, namely the scalar meson field $σ^*(975)$ and the vector meson field $ϕ(1020)$, had to be considered in order to reproduce the observed strongly attractive $ΛΛ$ interaction. The introduction of these strange mesons makes the equations of state harder (EOS) due to the repulsive effect of the $ϕ(1020)$ meson. In this work the inclusion of these mesons in the equation of state and their influence on the properties of the neutron stars are investigat…
The phase diagram of a system constituted of neutrons, protons, $Λ$-hyperons and electrons is evaluated in the mean-field approximation in the complete three-dimensional space given by the baryon, lepton and strange charge. It is shown that the phase diagram at sub-saturation densities is strongly affected by the electromagnetic interaction, while it is almost independent of the electric charge at supra-saturation density. As a consequence, stellar matter under the condition of strangeness equilibrium is expected to experience a first as well as a second-order strangeness-driven phase transiti…
The prediction of neutron stars properties is strictly connected to the employed nuclear interactions. The appearance of hyperons in the inner core of the star is strongly dependent on the details of the underlying hypernuclear force. We summarize our recent quantum Monte Carlo results on the development of realistic two- and three-body hyperon-nucleon interactions based on the available experimental data for light- and medium-heavy hypernuclei.
The effect of strange interactions in neutron star matter and the role of the strange meson-hyperon couplings are studied in a relativistic quark model where the confining interaction for quarks inside a baryon is represented by a phenomenological average potential in an equally mixed scalar-vector harmonic form. The hadron-hadron interaction in nuclear matter is then realized by introducing additional quark couplings to $σ$, $ω$, $ρ$, $σ^*$ and $ϕ$ mesons through mean-field approximations. The meson-baryon couplings are fixed through the SU(6) spin-flavor symmetry and the SU(3) flavor symmetr…
The equations of state for neutron matter, strange and non-strange hadronic matter in a 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 nucleon crust for the strange hadronic star is exhibited. Our results show the rotation can increase the maximum mass of compact stars significantly. For big enough mass of pulsar which can not be explained as strange hadronic star, the theoretical approaches to increase the maximum mass are …
Production of strange quarks in neutron stars is investigated in this work. Three cases, one in which the energy and neutrinos produced in the strangeness production reactions are retained in the reaction region, second in which the neutrinos are allowed to escape the reaction region but the energy is retained and the third in which both the energy and neutrinos escape the reaction region are considered. It is shown that the nonleptonic weak process dominates strange quark production while semileptonic weak processes, which produce neutrinos, lead to the cooling if the neutrinos escape the rea…
We discuss the role of strangeness on the internal constitution and structural properties of neutron stars. In particular, we report on recent calculations of hyperon star properties derived from microscopic equations of state for hyperonic matter. Next, we discuss the possibility of having a strange quark matter core in a neutron star, or the possible existence of strange quark matter stars, the so-called strange stars.
We study the non-radial oscillation modes of strange quark stars with a homogeneous core and a crust made of strangelets. Using a 2-component equation of state (core+crust) for strange quark stars that can produce stars as heavy as 2 solar masses, we identify the high-frequency l=2 spheroidal (f, p) in Newtonian gravity, using the Cowling approximation. The results are compared to the case of homogeneous compact stars such as polytropic neutron stars, as well as bare strange stars. We find that the strangelet crust only increases very slightly the frequency of the spheroidal modes, and that Ne…
Three-body forces acting on a $Λ$ hyperon in a nuclear medium are investigated, with special focus on the so-called hyperon puzzle in neutron stars. The hyperon-nucleon two-body interaction deduced from SU(3) chiral effective field theory is employed at next-to-leading order. Hyperon-nucleon three-body forces are approximated using saturation by decuplet baryons and are transcribed to density-dependent effective two-body interactions. These together are taken as input in a Brueckner-Bethe-Goldstone equation with explicit treatment of the $ΛN\leftrightarrowΣN$ and $ΛNN\leftrightarrowΣNN$ couple…
The properties of strangeness neutron star are studied within relativistic mean-field (RMF) model via including a logarithmic interaction as a function of scalar meson field. This logarithmic interaction, named as the $σ$-cut potential, can largely reduce the attractive contributions of scalar meson field at high density without any influence on nuclear structure around normal saturation density. In this work, the TM1 parameter set is chosen as the RMF interaction, while the strengths of logarithmic interaction are constrained by the properties of finite nuclei so that we can obtain a reasonab…
If strange matter is absolutely stable, the ordinary nuclei decay to strangelets, while neutron stars convert into strange stars. Lifetimes of the ordinary nuclei are constrained experimentally to be above $\sim 10^{33}$ years, while lifetimes of the metastable neutron stars depend on the neutron star masses and can exceed the age of the Universe. As a consequence, the neutron stars and the strange stars can coexist in the Universe. We point out that numerical simulations of the conversion of neutron stars to strange stars, performed by M. Herzog and F. K. Roepke in Phys. Rev. D 84, 083002 (20…
Using a realistic equation of state (EOS) of strange quark matter, namely, the modified bag model, and considering the constraints to the parameters of EOS by the observational mass limit of neutron stars, we study the r-mode instability window of strange stars, and find the same result as the brief study of Haskell, Degenaar and Ho in 2012 that these instability windows are not consistent with the spin frequency and temperature observations of neutron stars in LMXBs.
In this work we study the effect of the symmetry energy on several properties of neutron stars. First, we discuss its effect on the density, proton fraction and pressure of the neutron star crust-core transition. We show that whereas the first two quantities present a clear correlation with the slope parameter $L$ of the symmetry energy, no satisfactory correlation is seen between the transition pressure and $L$. However, a linear combination of the slope and curvature parameters at $ρ=0.1$ fm$^{-3}$ is well correlated with the transition pressure. In the second part we analyze the effect of t…
The effect of the density dependence of the nucleonic equation of state and the hyperon meson couplings on the star properties, including strangeness content, mass and radius, are studied within a relativistic mean field formalism. It is shown that there is still lacking information on the nucleonic equation of state at supra-saturation densities and on the hyperon interactions in nuclear matter that will allow a clear answer to the question whether the mass of the pulsar J1614-2230 could rule out exotic degrees of freedom from the interior of compact stars. We show that some star properties a…
The general statement that strange stars cool more rapidly than neutron stars is investigated in greater detail. It is found that the direct Urca process could be forbidden not only in neutron stars but also in strange stars. If so, strange stars would be slowly cooling and their surface temperatures would be more or less indistinguishable from those of slowly cooling neutron stars. The case of enhanced cooling is reinvestigated as well. It is found that strange stars cool significantly more rapidly than neutron stars within the first $\sim 30$ years after birth. This feature could become part…
The joint effect of the density dependence of the symmetry energy and strangeness content on the structure of cold neutron stars is studied within the framework of a relativistic mean field theory. It is shown that 2$M_\odot$ are obtained for repulsive $YY$ interaction and preferably for a small or a large slope $L$. An attractive $Σ$ potential in nuclear matter will favor the appearance of strangeness in stars with a mass as small as $\sim 1 M_\odot$, if, however it is repulsive only stars with a mass $\gtrsim 1.4 M_\odot$ will contain strangeness. The joint effect of reducing the symmetry en…
The phase diagram of a system constituted of neutrons and $Λ$-hyperons in thermal equilibrium is evaluated in the mean-field approximation. It is shown that this simple system exhibits a complex phase diagram with first and second order phase transitions. Due to the generic presence of attractive and repulsive couplings, the existence of phase transitions involving strangeness appears independent of the specific interaction model. In addition we will show under which conditions a phase transition towards strange matter at high density exists, which is expected to persist even within a complete…
The work presents the recent developments in Quantum Monte Carlo calculations for nuclear systems including strange degrees of freedom. The Auxiliary Field Diffusion Monte Carlo algorithm has been extended to the strange sector by the inclusion of the lightest among the hyperons, the $Λ$ particle. This allows to perform detailed calculations for $Λ$ hypernuclei, providing a microscopic framework for the study of the hyperon-nucleon interaction in connection with the available experimental information. The extension of the method for strange neutron matter, put the basis for the first Diffusion…
We show that self-annihilating neutralino 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.
The properties of strange quark matter and strange hadronic matter and their finite counterparts (strangelets and MEMOs) are reviewed. The production of strange matter in heavy-ion collision and the appearance of strange matter in neutron stars are discussed.
The equation of state and the properties of neutron stars are studied for a phase transition to a charged kaon condensate. We study the mixed phase by using Gibbs condition with comparison to the hitherto applied Maxwell construction. Implications for kaon condensation and for the mass-radius relation of condensed neutron stars are examined.
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 …
We study the thermodynamical properties of compressed baryonic matter with strangeness within non-relativistic energy density functional models with a particular emphasis on possible phase transitions found earlier for a simple $n,p,e,Λ$-mixture. The aim of the paper is twofold: I) examining the phase structure of the complete system, including the full baryonic octet and II) testing the sensitivity of the results to the model parameters. We find that, associated to the onset of the different hyperonic families, up to three separate strangeness-driven phase transitions may occur. Consequently,…
We examine the presence of strangeness-bearing components, hyperons and kaons, in dense neutron star matter. Calculations are performed using relativistic mean field models, in which both the baryon-baryon and kaon-baryon interactions are mediated by meson exchange. Results of kaon condensation are found to be qualitatively similar to previous work with chiral models, if compatibility of the kaon optical potentials is required. The presence of strangeness, be it in the form of hyperons or kaons, implies a reduction in the maximum mass and a relatively large number of protons, sufficient to all…
The present status in the field of strange mesons in nuclei and neutron stars is reviewed. In particular, the $\bar K N$ interaction, that is governed by the presence of the $Λ(1405)$, is analyzed and the formation of the $\bar K NN$ bound state is discussed. Moreover, the properties of $\bar K$ in dense nuclear matter are studied, in connection with strangeness production in nuclear collisions and kaon condensation in neutron stars.
We study the conversion of a neutron star to a strange star as a possible energy source for gamma-ray bursts. We use different recent models for the equation of state of neutron star matter and strange quark matter. We show that the total amount of energy liberated in the conversion is in the range of (1-4) 10^{53} ergs (one order of magnitude larger than previous estimates) and is in agreement with the energy required to power gamma-ray burst sources at cosmological distances.
The complete form of the equation of state of strangeness rich proto-neutron and neutron star matter has been obtained. The currently obtained lower value of the Lambda Lambda potential at the level of 5 MeV permits the existence of additional parameter set which reproduces the weaker Lambda Lambda interaction. The effects of the strength of hyperon-hyperon interactions on the equations of state constructed for the chosen parameter set have been analyzed. It has been shown that replacing the strong Y-Y interaction model by the weak one introduces large differences in the composition of a proto…
Recent developments and pending issues in low-energy strong interaction physics with strangeness are summarized. Chiral SU(3) effective field theory has progressed as the appropriate theoretical framework applied to antikaon- and hyperon-nuclear systems. Topics include antikaon-nucleon interactions and the Lambda(1405), KbarNN systems, recent developments in hyperon-nucleon interactions and strangeness in dense baryonic matter with emphasis on new constraints from neutron star observations.
Considering the mass constraint from the resent pulsar observations, we study the properties of neutron stars including hyperons and quarks explicitly. Using the chiral quark-meson coupling model with relativistic Hartree-Fock approximation, the equation of state (EoS) for hadronic matter is calculated by taking into account the strange ($σ^{\ast}$ and $ϕ$) mesons as well as the light non-strange ($σ$, $ω$, $\vecρ$, and $\vecπ$) mesons in SU(3) flavor symmetry. On the other hand, the EoS for quark matter is constructed with the simple MIT bag or the flavor-SU(3) Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model, and w…
We discuss the role of strangeness in dense matter and especially in neutron stars. The early (in density) introduction of hyperons found in many calculations is probably delayed by the decrease in vector mean field acting on the neutron. The decrease results from both conventional many-body rescattering effects and from the movement towards asymptotic freedom at high densities. Subthreshold $K^-$-meson production by the KaoS collaboration at GSI shows that the $K^-$-mass must be substantially lowered, by $\gtrsim$ 200 MeV at $ρ\sim 2ρ_0$. It is shown that explicit chiral symmetry breaking thr…
With central densities way above the density of atomic nuclei, neutron stars contain matter in one of the densest forms found in the universe. Depending of the density reached in the cores of neutron stars, they may contain stable phases of exotic matter found nowhere else in space. This article gives a brief overview of the phases of ultra-dense matter predicted to exist deep inside neutron stars and discusses the equation of state associated with such matter.
It is generally agreed on that the tremendous densities reached in the centers of neutron stars provide a high-pressure environment in which numerous novel particles processes are likely to compete with each other. These processes range from the generation of hyperons to quark deconfinement to the formation of kaon condensates and H-matter. There are theoretical suggestions of even more exotic processes inside neutron stars, such as the formation of absolutely stable strange quark matter, a configuration of matter even more stable than the most stable atomic nucleus, iron. In the latter event,…
We here discuss a new model of $γ$-ray bursts (GRBs) based on differentially rotating strange stars. Strange stars in this model and differentially rotating neutron stars in the Kluźniak-Ruderman model can produce extremely relativistic, variable fireballs required by GRBs and then become millisecond pulsars. The effect of such pulsars on expansion of the postburst fireballs through magnetic dipole radiation is studied. We show that these two models can explain naturally not only various features of GRBs but also light curves of afterglows.
Combining the recent experimental indications of density dependence in the pion decay constant $f_π^\star$ and the $ω$ meson mass $m_ω^\star$ and the discovery of $S^0 (3115)$ and other "strange nuggets" with the vector manifestation of chiral symmetry in hidden local symmetry proposed by Harada and Yamawaki, we show that the mechanism responsible for dense strangeness nuggets can be related to that responsible for kaon condensation in neutron-star matter. We suggest that this relation assures kaon condensation at a density $\sim$ three times nuclear matter density which supports the Brown-Bet…
We present results for models of neutron stars and strange stars constructed using the Hartle-Thorne slow-rotation method with a wide range of equations of state, focusing on the values obtained for the angular momentum $J$ and the quadrupole moment $Q$, when the gravitational mass $M$ and the rotational frequency $Ω$ are specified. Building on previous work, which showed surprising uniformity in the behaviour of the moment of inertia for neutron-star models constructed with widely-different equations of state, we find similar uniformity for the quadrupole moment. These two quantities, togethe…
Background : The emergence of hyperon degrees of freedom in neutron star matter has been associated to first order phase transitions in some phenomenological models, but conclusions on the possible physical existence of an instability in the strangeness sector are strongly model dependent. Purpose : The purpose of the present study is to assess whether strangeness instabilities are related to specific values of the largely unconstrained hyperon interactions, and to study the effect of the strange meson couplings on phenomenological properties of neutron stars and supernova matter, once these l…
In this contribution we review the dynamics of hyperons with nucleons and nuclear matter, paying a special attention to hypernuclei. We also discuss the presence of hyperons in the inner core of neutron stars and the consequences for the structure of these compact stars.
It has been predicted that quark and hybrid stars, containing strange quark matter in their core, have a significantly smaller radius than ordinary neutron stars. Preliminary X-ray observations of isolated neutron stars indicated a surprisingly small radius consistent with quark matter in the interior of the star. However, a new analysis of the data led to a radius corresponding to an ordinary neutron star. In the present talk we will discuss theoretical calculations of the mass-radius relation for quark and hybrid stars, taking into account medium effects in quark matter, and report on recent…
The gravity-mode (g-mode) eigenfrequencies of newly born strange quark stars (SQSs) and neutron stars (NSs) are studied. It is found that the eigenfrequencies in SQSs are much lower than those in NSs by almost one order of magnitude, since the components of a SQS are all extremely relativistic particles while nucleons in a NS are non-relativistic. We therefore propose that newly born SQSs can be distinguished from the NSs by detecting the eigenfrequencies of the g-mode pulsations of supernovae cores through gravitational radiation by LIGO-class detectors.
Contrary to young neutron stars, young strange stars are not subject to the r-mode instability which slows rapidly rotating, hot neutron stars to rotation periods near 10 ms via gravitational wave emission. Young millisecond pulsars are therefore likely to be strange stars rather than neutron stars, or at least to contain significant quantities of quark matter in the interior.
We discuss the impact of strange hadrons, in particular hyperons, on the gross features of compact stars and on core-collapse supernovae. Hyperons are likely to be the first exotic species which appears around twice normal nuclear matter density in the core of neutron stars. Their presence largely influences the mass-radius relation of compact stars, the maximum mass, the cooling of neutron stars, the stability with regard to the emission of gravitational waves from rotation-powered neutron stars and the possible early onset of the QCD phase transition in core-collapse supernovae. We outline a…
The measurement of the mass 1.97 +/- 0.04 M_sun for PSR J1614-2230 provides a new constraint on the equation of state and composition of matter at high densities. In this contribution we investigate the possibility that the dense cores of neutron stars could contain strange quarks either in a confined state (hyperonic matter) or in a deconfined one (strange quark matter) while fulfilling a set of constraints including the new maximum mass constraint. We account for the possible appearance of hyperons within an extended version of the density-dependent relativistic mean-field model, including t…
We study the thermal evolution of neutron stars in the presence of hyperons or kaons in the core. Our results indicate that the nucleon and hyperon direct Urca processes play crucial roles for the cooling of neutron stars. The presence of hyperons drives fast cooling mechanisms in two ways: 1) it allows the hyperon direct Urca prior to the nucleon direct Urca, 2) and it makes the nucleon direct Urca more feasible by reducing the neutron Fermi momentum. We found that the neutron star equation of state (EOS) with hyperons can be consistent with both mass and temperature observations. We also fou…
We study the transition from npe-type nuclear matter (consisting of neutrons, protons, and electrons) to matter containing strangeness, using a Walecka-type model predicting a first-order kaon-condensate phase transition. We examine the free energy of droplets of K-matter as the density, temperature, and neutrino fraction are varied. Langer nucleation rate theory is then used to approximate the rate at which critical droplets of the new phase are produced by thermal fluctuations, thus giving an estimate of the time required for the new (mixed) phase to appear at various densities and various t…
There are strong indications that the process of conversion of a neutron star into a strange quark star proceeds as a strong deflagration implying that in a few milliseconds almost the whole star is converted. Starting from the three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of the combustion process which provide the temperature profiles inside the newly born strange star, we calculate for the first time the neutrino signal that is to be expected if such a conversion process takes place. The neutrino emission is characterized by a luminosity and a duration that is typical for the signal expected f…
