arXiv subjects

Armen Sedrakian

Publications and source records attributed to Armen Sedrakian.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Equation of state of strongly magnetized matter with hyperons and $Δ$-resonances

We construct a new equation of state for the baryonic matter under an intense magnetic field within the framework of covariant density functional theory. The composition of matter includes hyperons as well as $ Δ$-resonances. The extension of the nucleonic functional to the hypernuclear sector is constrained by the experimental data on $Λ$ and $Ξ$-hypernuclei. We find that the equation of state stiffens with the inclusion of the magnetic field, which increases the maximum mass of neutron star compared to the non-magnetic case. In addition, the strangeness fraction in the matter is enhanced. Several observables, like the Dirac effective mass, particle abundances, etc show typical oscillatory behavior as a function of the magnetic field and/or density which is traced back to the occupation pattern of Landau levels.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Light clusters in dilute heavy-baryon admixed nuclear matter

We study the composition of nuclear matter at sub-saturation densities, non-zero temperatures, and isospin asymmetry, under the conditions characteristic of binary neutron star mergers, stellar collapse, and low-energy heavy-ion collisions. The composition includes light clusters with mass number $A\le 4$, a heavy nucleus ($\isotope[56]{Fe}$), the $Δ$-resonances, the isotriplet of pions, as well as the $Λ$ hyperon. The nucleonic mean-fields are computed from a zero-range density functional, whereas the pion-nucleon interactions are treated to leading order in chiral perturbation theory. We show that with increasing temperature and/or density the composition of matter shifts from light-cluster to heavy baryon dominated one, the transition taking place nearly independent of the magnitude of the isospin. Our findings highlight the importance of simultaneous treatment of light clusters and heavy baryons in the astrophysical and heavy-ion physics contexts.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2020

Oscillations of hypermassive compact stars with gravitational radiation and viscosity

Binary neutron star mergers, such as the multimessenger GW170817 event, may produce hypermassive compact objects which are supported against collapse by the internal circulation of the fluid within the star. We compute their unstable modes of oscillations driven by gravitational wave radiation and shear viscosity, modeling them as triaxial Riemann ellipsoids. We work in a perturbative regime, where the gravitational radiation reaction force is taken into account at 2.5-post-Newtonian order and find unstable modes with dissipation timescales $\gtrsim 1$ ms which are relevant to the transient state of a hypermassive remnant of a merger. We show that the secular instabilities are dominated by gravitational wave radiation. If the shear viscosity is included, it can increase the growth times or even stabilize the unstable modes, but it must have values several orders of magnitude larger than predicted for cold neutron stars.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Rapidly rotating $Δ$-resonance-admixed hypernuclear compact stars

We use a set of hadronic equations of state derived from covariant density functional theory to study the impact of their high-density behavior on the properties of rapidly rotating $Δ$-resonance-admixed hyperonic compact stars. In particular, we explore systematically the effects of variations of the bulk energy isoscalar skewness, $Q_{\mathrm{sat}}$, and the symmetry energy slope, $L_{\mathrm{sym}}$, on the masses of rapidly rotating compact stars. With models for equation of state satisfying all the modern astrophysical constraints, excessively large gravitational masses of around $2.5 \, M_{\odot}$ are only obtained under three conditions: (a) strongly attractive $Δ$-resonance potential in nuclear matter, (b) maximally fast (Keplerian) rotation, and (c) parameter ranges $Q_{\mathrm{sat}}\gtrsim500$ MeV and $L_{\mathrm{sym}}\lesssim50$ MeV. These values of $Q_{\mathrm{sat}}$ and $L_{\mathrm{sym}}$ have a rather small overlap with a large sample (total of about 260) parametrizations of covariant nucleonic density functionals. The extreme nature of requirements (a)-(c) reinforces the theoretical expectation that the secondary object involved in the GW190814 event is likely to be a low-mass black hole rather than a supramassive neutron star.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Confronting GW190814 with hyperonization in dense matter and hypernuclear compact stars

We examine the possibility that the light companion in the highly asymmetric binary compact object coalescence event GW190814 is a hypernuclear star. We use density functional theory with functionals that have been tuned to the properties of $Λ$ hypernuclei as well as astrophysical constraints placed by the masses of the most massive millisecond pulsars, the mass-radius range inferred from the NICER experiment, and the binary neutron star merger event GW170817. We compute general-relativistic static and maximally rotating Keplerian configurations of purely nucleonic and hypernuclear stars. We find that while nucleonic stars are broadly consistent with a neutron star being involved in GW190814, this would imply no new degrees of freedom in the dense matter up to 6.5 times the nuclear saturation density. Allowing for hyperonization of dense matter, we find that the maximal masses of hypernuclear stars, even for maximal rapidly rotating configurations, are inconsistent with a stellar nature interpretation of the light companion in GW190814, implying that this event involved two black holes rather than a neutron star and a black hole.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Proto-neutron stars with heavy baryons and universal relations

We use covariant density functional theory to obtain the equation of state (EoS) of matter in compact stars at non-zero temperature, including the full baryon octet as well as the $Δ(1232)$ resonance states. Global properties of hot $Δ$-admixed hypernuclear stars are computed for fixed values of entropy per baryon ($S/A$) and lepton fraction ($Y_L$). Universal relations between the moment of inertia, quadrupole moment, tidal deformability, and compactness of compact stars are established for fixed values of $S/A$ and $Y_L$ that are analogous to those known for cold catalyzed compact stars. We also verify that the $I$-Love-$Q$ relations hold at finite temperature for constant values of $S/A$ and $Y_L$.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2020

Transport coefficients of two-flavor quark matter from the Kubo formalism

The transport coefficients of quark matter at non-zero chemical potential and temperature are computed within the two-flavor Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. We apply the Kubo formalism to obtain the thermal ($κ$) and electrical ($σ$) conductivities as well as an update of the shear viscosity ($η$) by evaluating the corresponding equilibrium two-point correlation functions to leading order in the $1/N_c$ expansion. The Dirac structure of the self-energies and spectral functions is taken into account as these are evaluated from the meson-exchange Fock diagrams for on-mass-shell quarks. We find that the thermal and electrical conductivities are decreasing functions of temperature and density above the Mott temperature $T_{\rm M}$ of dissolution of mesons into quarks, the main contributions being generated by the temporal and vector components of the spectral functions. The coefficients show a universal dependence on the ratio $T/T_{\rm M}$ for different densities, i.e., the results differ by a chemical-potential dependent constant. We also show that the Wiedemann-Franz law for the ratio $σ/κ$ does not hold. The ratio $η/s $, where $s$ is the entropy density, is of order of unity (or larger) close to the Mott temperature and, as the temperature increases, approaches the AdS/CFT bound $1/4π$. It is also conjectured that the ratio $κT/c_V $, with $c_V$ being the specific heat, is bounded from below by $1/18$.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2020

Bulk Viscous Damping of Density Oscillations in Neutron Star Mergers

In this paper, we discuss the damping of density oscillations in dense nuclear matter in the temperature range relevant to neutron star mergers. This damping is due to bulk viscosity arising from the weak interaction ``Urca'' processes of neutron decay and electron capture. The nuclear matter is modelled in the relativistic density functional approach. The bulk viscosity reaches a resonant maximum close to the neutrino trapping temperature, then drops rapidly as temperature rises into the range where neutrinos are trapped in neutron stars. We investigate the bulk viscous dissipation timescales in a post-merger object and identify regimes where these timescales are as short as the characteristic timescale $\sim$10 ms, and, therefore, might affect the evolution of the post-merger object. Our analysis indicates that bulk viscous damping would be important at not too high temperatures of the order of a few MeV and densities up to a few times saturation density.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2020

Relativistic hybrid stars with sequential first-order phase transitions and heavy-baryon envelopes

We compute the mass, radius and tidal deformability of stars containing phase transitions from hadronic to quark phase(s). These quantities are computed for three types of hadronic envelopes: purely nuclear, hyperonic, and $Δ$-resonance--hyperon admixed matter. We consider either a single first-order phase transition to a quark phase with a maximally stiff equation of state (EOS) or two sequential first-order phase transitions mimicking a transition from hadronic to a quark matter phase followed by a second phase transition to another quark phase. We explore the parameter space which produces low-mass twin and triplet configurations where equal-mass stars have substantially different radii and tidal deformabilities. We demonstrate that while for purely hadronic stiff EOS the obtained maximum mass is inconsistent with the upper limit on this quantity placed by GW170817, the inclusion of the hyperonic and $Δ$-resonance degrees of freedom, as well as the deconfinement phase transition at sufficiently low density, produces a configuration of stars consistent with this limit. The obtained hybrid star configurations are in the mass range relevant for the interpretation of the GW170817 event. We compare our results for the tidal deformability with the limits inferred from GW170817 showing that the onset of non-nucleonic phases, such as $Δ$-resonance--hyperon admixed phase and/or the quark phase(s), are favored by this data if the nuclear EOS is stiff. Also, we show that low-mass twins and especially triplets proliferate the number of combinations of possible types of stars that can undergo a merger event, the maximal number being six in the case of triplets. The prospects for uncovering the first-order phase transition(s) to and in quark matter via measurements of tidal deformabilities in merger events are discussed.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Bulk viscosity of baryonic matter with trapped neutrinos

We study bulk viscosity arising from weak current Urca processes in dense baryonic matter at and beyond nuclear saturation density. We consider the temperature regime where neutrinos are trapped and therefore have nonzero chemical potential. We model the nuclear matter in a relativistic density functional approach, taking into account the trapped neutrino component. We find that the resonant maximum of the bulk viscosity would occur at or below the neutrino trapping temperature, so in the neutrino trapped regime the bulk viscosity decreases with temperature as $T^{-2}$, this decrease being interrupted by a drop to zero at a special temperature where the proton fraction becomes density-independent and the material scale-invariant. The bulk viscosity is larger for matter with lower lepton fraction, i.e., larger isospin asymmetry. We find that bulk viscosity in the neutrino-trapped regime is smaller by several orders of magnitude than in the neutrino-transparent regime, which implies that bulk viscosity in neutrino-trapped matter is probably not strong enough to affect significantly the evolution of neutron star mergers. This also implies weak damping of gravitational waves emitted by the oscillations of the postmerger remnant in the high-temperature, neutrino-trapped phase of evolution.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Superfluidity in nuclear systems and neutron stars

Nuclear matter and finite nuclei exhibit the property of superfluidity by forming Cooper pairs. We review the microscopic theories and methods that are being employed to understand the basic properties of superfluid nuclear systems, with emphasis on the spatially extended matter encountered in neutron stars, supernova envelopes, and nuclear collisions. Our survey of quantum many-body methods includes techniques that employ Green functions, correlated basis functions, and Monte Carlo sampling of quantum states. With respect to empirical realizations of nucleonic and hadronic superfluids, this review is focused on progress that has been made toward quantitative understanding of their properties at the level of microscopic theories of pairing, with emphasis on the condensates that exist under conditions prevailing in neutron-star interiors. These include singlet $S$-wave pairing of neutrons in the inner crust, and, in the quantum fluid interior, singlet-$S$ proton pairing and triplet coupled $P$-$F$-wave neutron pairing. Additionally, calculations of weak-interaction rates in neutron-star superfluids within the Green function formalism are examined in detail. We close with a discussion of quantum vortex states in nuclear systems and their dynamics in neutron-star superfluid interiors.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2019

Constraining compact star properties with nuclear saturation parameters

A set of hadronic equations of state (EoSs) derived from relativistic density functional theory and constrained by terrestrial experiments, astrophysical observations, in particular by the GW170817 event, and chiral effective field theory ($χ$EFT) of neutron matter is used to explore the sensitivity of the EoS parameterization on the few nuclear matter characteristics defined at the saturation density. We find that the gross properties of compact stars are most sensitive to the isoscalar skewness coefficient $Q_{\text{sat}}$ and the isovector slope coefficient $L_{\text{sym}}$ around saturation density, since the higher order coefficients, such as $K_{\text{sym}}$, are fixed by our model. More specifically, (i) among these $Q_{\text{sat}}$ is the dominant parameter controlling both the maximum mass and the radii of compact stars while $L_{\rm sym}$ is constrained somewhat by $χ$EFT of neutron matter; (ii) massive enough ($M\sim 2.0~M_{\odot})$ compact stars featuring both hyperons and $Δ$ resonances can be obtained if the value of $Q_{\text{sat}}$ is large enough; (iii) the emergence of $Δ$'s reduces the radius of a canonical mass ($M\sim 1.4~M_{\odot})$ compact star thus easing the tension between the predictions of the relativistic density functionals and the inferences from the X-ray observation of nearby isolated neutron stars.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Cooling of hypernuclear compact stars: Hartree-Fock models and high-density pairing

The thermal evolution of hypernuclear compact stars is studied for stellar models constructed on the basis of covariant density functional theory in Hartree and Hartree-Fock approximation. Parametrizations of both types are consistent with the astrophysical mass constraints on compact stars and available hypernuclear data. We discuss the differences of these density functionals and highlight the effects they have on the composition and on the cooling of hypernuclear stars. It is shown that hypernuclear stars computed with density functional models that have a low symmetry energy slope, $L$, are fairly consistent with the cooling data of observed compact stars. The class of stellar models based on larger $L$ values gives rise to the direct Urca process at low densities, which leads to significantly faster cooling. We conjecture high-density pairing for protons and $Λ$'s in the $P$-wave channel and provide simple scaling arguments to obtain these gaps. As a consequence the most massive stellar models with masses $1.8 \le M/M_{\odot} \le2$ experience slower cooling by hyperonic dUrca processes which involve $Λ$'s and protons.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2019

Implications from GW170817 for $Δ$-isobar admixed hypernuclear compact stars

The effects of $Δ$ isobars on the equation of state of dense matter and structure of compact stars (CSs) are explored within the covariant density functional theory and confronted with the data on tidal deformability (TD) extracted from the GW170817 event. We show that the presence of $Δ$ isobars substantially softens the tension between the predictions of the hypernuclear density functionals and the inference from the observations of relatively small radius and small TD of canonical mass CSs. The TDs deduced from GW170817 are compatible with the existence of hypernuclear CSs containing an admixture of $Δ$ isobars. We thus argue that the GW170817 event is consistent with a merger of a binary CS system having both strangeness (hyperons) and $Δ$ isobars in the stellar core.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2019

Axion cooling of neutron stars. II. Beyond hadronic axions

We study the axion cooling of neutron stars within the Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky (DFSZ) model, which allows for tree level coupling of electrons to the axion {and locks the Peccei-Quinn charges of fermions via an angle parameter}. This extends our previous study [Phys. Rev. D 93, 065044 (2016)] limited to hadronic models of axions. We explore the two-dimensional space of axion parameters within the DFSZ model by comparing the theoretical cooling models with the surface temperatures of a few stars with measured surface temperatures. It is found that axions masses $m_a\ge 0.06$ to 0.12 eV can be excluded by x-ray observations of thermal emission of neutron stars (in particular by those of Cas A), the precise limiting value depending on the angle parameter of the DFSZ model. It is also found that axion emission by electron bremsstrahlung in neutron star crusts is negligible except for the special case where neutron Peccei-Quinn charge is small enough, so that the coupling of neutrons to axions can be neglected.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Electrical Resistivity and Hall Effect in Binary Neutron-Star Mergers

We examine the range of rest-mass densities, temperatures and magnetic fields involved in simulations of binary neutron-star mergers and identify the conditions under which the ideal-magnetohydrodynamics approximation breaks down and hence the magnetic-field decay should be accounted for. We use recent calculations of the conductivities of warm correlated plasma in envelopes of compact stars and find that the magnetic-field decay timescales are much larger than the characteristic timescales of the merger process for lengthscales down to a meter. Because these are smaller than the currently available resolution in numerical simulations, the ideal-magnetohydrodynamics approximation is effectively valid for all realistic simulations. At the same time, we find that the Hall effect can be important at low densities and low temperatures, where it can induce a non-dissipative rearrangement of the magnetic field. Finally, we mark the region in temperature and density where the hydrodynamic description breaks down.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Bulk Viscosity of Hot Quark Plasma from Non-Equilibrium Statistical Operator

We provide a discussion of the bulk viscosity of two-flavor quark plasma, described by the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model, within the framework of Kubo-Zubarev formalism. This discussion, which is complementary to our earlier study, contains a new, detailed derivation of the bulk viscosity in the case of multiple conserved charges. We also provide some numerical details of the computation of the bulk viscosity close to the Mott transition line, where the dissipation is dominated by decays of mesons into quarks and their inverse processes. We close with a summary of our current understanding of this quantity, which stresses the importance of loop resummation for obtaining the qualitatively correct result near the Mott line.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2018

Hypernuclear stars from relativistic Hartree-Fock density functional theory

The hypernuclear matter is studied within the relativistic Hartree-Fock theory employing several parametrizations of the hypernuclear density functional with density-dependent couplings. The equations of state and compositions of hypernuclear matter are determined for each parametrization and compact stars are constructed by solving their structure equations in spherical symmetry. We quantify the softening effect of Fock terms on the equation of state, as well as discuss the impact of tensor interactions, which are absent in the Hartree theories. Starting from models of density functionals which are fixed in the nuclear sector to the nuclear phenomenology, we vary the couplings in the hyperonic sector around the central values which are fitted to the hyperon potentials in nuclear matter. We use the SU(6) spin-flavor and SU(3) flavor symmetric quark models to relate the hyperonic couplings to the nucleonic ones. We find, consistent with previous Hartree studies, that for the SU(6) model the maximal masses of compact stars are below the two-solar mass limit. In the SU(3) model we find sufficiently massive compact stars with cores composed predominantly of $Λ$ and $Ξ$ hyperons and a low fraction of leptons (mostly electrons). The parameter space of the SU(3) model is identified where simultaneously hypernuclear compact stars obey the astrophysical limits on pulsar masses and the empirical hypernuclear potentials in nuclear matter are reproduced.

nucl-th↗