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arXiv · 2602.07004

Asymptotic Freedom and Vacuum Polarization Determine the Astrophysical End State of Relativistic Gravitational Collapse: Quark--Gluon Plasma Star Instead of Black Hole

Herman J. Mosquera Cuesta·Fabián H. Zuluaga Giraldo·Wilmer D. Alfonso Pardo·Edgardo Marbello Santrich·Guillermo U. Avendaño Franco·Rafael Fragozo Larrazabal
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Abstract

A general relativistic model of an astrophysical hypermassive extremely magnetized ultra-compact self-bound quark--gluon plasma object that is supported against its ultimate gravitational implosion by the simultaneous action of the vacuum polarization driven by nonlinear electrodynamics (NLED: light-by-light scattering) and the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) asymptotic freedom, is presented. These QCD stars can be the final figures of the equilibrium of collapsing stellar cores. Post-supernova fallback material pushes the nascent remnant beyond its stability to collapse into a hybrid hypermassive neutron star (HHMNS). Hypercritical accretion can unbind the whole HHMNS's baryons to spontaneously break away color confinement, powering a first-order hadron-to-quark phase transition to a sea of ever-freer quarks and gluons. This core is hydro-stabilized by the steady, endlessly compression-admitting asymptotic freedom state, possibly via gluon-mediated enduring exchange of color charge among bound states. The nonlinear TOV equation indicates the occurrence of hypermassive QGP/QCD stars with a wide mass spectrum ($0\lesssim$ M$^{\rm{QGP}}_{\rm{Star}}\lesssim$\,7\,M$_\odot$ and beyond), for star radii ($0\lesssim R^{\rm{QGP}}_{\rm{Star}}\lesssim 24$\,km and beyond) with B-fields ($10^{14} \leq$ B$^{\rm{QGP}}_{\rm{Star}} \leq 10^{16}$\,G and beyond). Such QCD stars can emulate what the true black holes are supposed to gravitationally do in most astrophysical settings. This color quark star could be found through a search for its eternal ``yo-yo'' state gravitational-wave emission, or via lensing phenomena like gravitational rainbows, as in this scenario it is expected that the light deflection angle, directly influenced by the larger effective mass/radius and magnetic field of the deflecting object, increases as the incidence angle decreases for impact parameter lower values.

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BibTeXRIS

Herman J. Mosquera Cuesta, Fabián H. Zuluaga Giraldo, Wilmer D. Alfonso Pardo, Edgardo Marbello Santrich, Guillermo U. Avendaño Franco, Rafael Fragozo Larrazabal. 2026-01-29. Asymptotic Freedom and Vacuum Polarization Determine the Astrophysical End State of Relativistic Gravitational Collapse: Quark--Gluon Plasma Star Instead of Black Hole. https://doi.org/10.3390/universe11110375

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