arXiv subjects

Ana Gabriela Grunfeld

Publications and source records attributed to Ana Gabriela Grunfeld.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Bayesian analysis of hybrid neutron star EOS constraints within an instantaneous nonlocal chiral quark matter model

We present a physics-informed Bayesian analysis of equation of state constraints using observational data for masses, radii and tidal deformability of pulsars and a generic class of hybrid neutron star equation of state with color superconducting quark matter on the basis of a recently developed nonlocal chiral quark model. The nuclear matter phase is described within a relativistic density functional model of the DD2 class and the phase transition is obtained by a Maxwell construction. We find the region in the two-dimensional parameter space spanned by the vector meson coupling and the scalar diquark coupling, where three conditions are fulfilled: (1) the Maxwell construction can be performed, \mbox{(2) the maximum} mass of the hybrid neutron star is not smaller than \mbox{2.0 M$_\odot$} and (3) the onset density of the phase transition is not below the nuclear saturation density $n_0=0.15$ fm$^{-3}$. The result of this study shows that the favorable neutron star equation of state has low onset masses for the occurrence of a color superconducting quark matter core between 0.5-0.7 $M_\odot$ and maximum masses in the range 2.15-2.22 $M_\odot$. In the typical mass range of 1.2-2.0 $M_\odot$, the radii of these stars are between 11.9 and 12.4 km, almost independent of the mass. In principle, hybrid stars would allow for larger maximum masses than provided by the hadronic reference equation of state.

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arXiv2024

Hybrid isentropic twin stars

We present a study of hybrid neutron stars with color superconducting quark matter cores at finite temperature that results in sequences of stars with constant entropy per baryon, $s/n_B={\rm const}$. For the quark matter equation of state, we employ a recently developed nonlocal chiral quark model while nuclear matter is described with a relativistic density functional model of the DD2 class. The phase transition is obtained by a Maxwell construction under isothermal conditions. We find that traversing the mixed phase on a trajectory at low $s/n_B\lesssim 2$ in the phase diagram shows a heating effect while at larger $s/n_B$ the temperature drops. This behavior may be attributed to the presence of a color superconducting quark matter phase at low temperatures and the melting of the diquark condensate which restores the normal quark matter phase at higher temperatures. While the isentropic hybrid star branch at low $s/n_B\lesssim 2$ is connected to the neutron star branch, it gets disconnected at higher entropy per baryon so that the "thermal twin" phenomenon is observed. We find that the transition from connected to disconnected hybrid star sequences may be estimated with the Seidov criterion for the difference in energy densities. The radii and masses at the onset of deconfinement exhibit a linear relationship and thus define a critical compactness of the isentropic star configuration for which the transition occurs which for large enough $s/n_B\gtrsim 2$ is accompanied by an instability. The results of this study may be of relevance for uncovering the conditions for the supernova explodability of massive blue supergiant stars by the quark deconfinement mechanism. The accretion-induced deconfinement transition with thermal twin formation may contribute to explaining the origin of eccentric orbits in some binary systems and the origin of isolated millisecond pulsars.

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arXiv2022

Special point "trains" in the M-R diagram of hybrid stars

We present a systematic investigation of the possible locations for the special point (SP), a unique feature of hybrid neutron stars in the mass-radius diagram. The study is performed within the two-phase approach where the high-density (quark matter) phase is described by the covariant nonlocal Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (nlNJL) model equation of state (EOS) which is shown to be equivalent to a constant-sound-speed (CSS) EOS. For the nuclear matter phase around saturation density different relativistic density functional EOSs are used: DD2p00, its excluded-volume modification DD2p40 and the hypernuclear EOS DD2Y-T. In the present contribution we apply the Maxwell construction scheme for the deconfinement transition and demonstrate that a simultaneous variation of the vector and diquark coupling constants results in the occurrence of SP "trains" which are invariant against changing the nuclear matter EOS. We propose that the SP train corresponding to a variation of the diquark coupling at constant vector coupling is special since it serves as a lower bound for the line of maximum masses and accessible radii of massive hybrid stars.

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arXiv2022

Constraining free parameters of a color superconducting non-local Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model using Bayesian analysis of neutron stars mass and radius measurements

We provide a systematic study of hybrid neutron star equations of state (EoS) consisting of a relativistic density functional for the hadronic phase and a covariant nonlocal Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (nlNJL) model to describe the color superconducting quark matter phase. Changing the values of the two free parameters, the dimensionless vector and diquark coupling strengths $η_V$ and $η_D$ results in a set of EoS with varying stiffness and deconfinement onset. The favorable parameters are obtained from a systematic Bayesian analysis for which the multi-messenger constraint on the neutron star radius at $1.4~$M$_\odot$ and the combined mass-radius constraint for PSR J0740+6620 from NICER experiment are used as the constraints. Additionally, the transition from hadronic matter to deconfined quark matter is constrained to occur above nuclear saturation density. Hybrid stars modeled with these favorable parameters are compatible with the NICER results for the radius of the highest known mass neutron star, PSR J0740+6620. Three new observations interesting for neutron star phenomenology are reported: 1) We show that the constant sound speed (CSS) EoS provides an excellent fit to that of the nlNJL model which implies the squared speed of sound at high densities to be about $0.5$ for the optimized parameters; 2) we give a simple functional form for the mapping between the parameter spaces of these two models valid for the whole range of relevant chemical potentials and 3) we observe that the special point property of hybrid EoS based on CSS quark matter generalizes to a set of lines consisting of special points when two EoS parameters are varied instead of one. A lower limit for the maximum mass of hybrid stars as a function of the vector coupling strength is obtained.

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