arXiv subjects

Constança Providência

Publications and source records attributed to Constança Providência.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Hybrid stars with large strange quark cores constrained by GW170817

We analyze the impact of several multi-quark interaction channels on the properties of hybrid stars. Four and eight vector interactions were included in the $SU(3)$ NJL model to describe the quark matter, and all vector like interactions were investigated. The hybrid stars were built starting from an hadronic EoS that satisfy presently accepted nuclear matter properties and considering the quark model constrained by the vacuum properties of several light mesons. The interplay between the 8-quark vector interaction and the 4-quark isovector-vector interaction determine the size of the quark core and its strangeness content. The inclusion of a isovector-vector interaction is essential to obtain large $s$-quark contents and a smaller central speed of sound, although this interaction pushes the onset of quarks to larger densities. It is observed that low mass stars, with a mass below 1.4$M_\odot$, may contain a quark core but with small strangeness content. It is shown that the presently existing mass and tidal deformability constraints from NS observations allow for the existence of hybrid stars with a large strangeness content and large quark cores for binary mass ratios $q=M_2/M_1\gtrsim 0.85$.

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arXiv2021

Light hyperclusters and hyperons in low-density hot stellar matter

The abundance of light nuclei and hyperons, that are produced in stellar environments such as supernova or binary mergers, is calculated within a relativistic mean-field model with density dependent couplings in low-density matter. Five light nuclei are considered, together with three light hyper-nuclei. We show that the presence of hyperons shifts the dissolution of clusters to larger densities, and increases the amount of clusters. This effect is larger the smaller the charge fraction, and the higher the temperature. The abundance of hyperons is also affected by the cluster formation: neutral and positively charged hyperons suffer a reduction, and the negatively charged ones an increase. We also observe that the dissolution of the less-abundant clusters occurs at larger densities due to smaller Pauli-blocking effects. Overall, hyper-nuclei set in at temperatures above 25 MeV, and depending on the temperature and chemical composition, they may be more abundant than $α$-particles, or even more abundant than other heavier clusters.

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arXiv2021

Strong magnetic fields: neutron stars with an extended inner crust

Using relativistic mean-field models, the formation of clusterized matter, as the one expected to exist in the inner crust of neutron stars, is determined under the effect of strong magnetic fields. As already predicted from a calculation of the unstable modes resulting from density fluctuations at subsaturation densities, we confirm in the present work that for magnetic field intensities of the order of $\approx 5 \times 10^{16}$ G to $5 \times 10^{17}$ G, pasta phases may occur for densities well above the zero-field crust-core transition density. This confirms that the extension of the crust may be larger than expected. It is also verified that the equilibrium structure of the clusterized matter is very sensitive to the intensity of the magnetic fields. As a result, the decay of the magnetic field may give rise to internal stresses which may result on the yield and fracture of the inner crust lattice.

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arXiv2021

Critical properties of calibrated relativistic mean-field models for the transition to warm, non-homogeneous nuclear matter

The critical properties for the transition to warm, asymmetric, non-homogeneous nuclear matter are analysed within a thermodynamical spinodal approach for a set of well calibrated equations of state. It is shown that even though different equations of state are constrained by the same experimental, theoretical and observational data, and the properties of symmetric nuclear matter are similar within the models, the properties of very asymmetric nuclear matter, such as the one found inside of neutron stars, differ a lot for various models. Some models predict larger transition densities to homogeneous matter for beta-equilibrated matter than for symmetric nuclear matter. Since one expects that such properties have a noticeable impact on the the evolution of either a supernova or neutron star merger, this different behavior should be understood in more detail.

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arXiv2021

Neutron stars with Bogoliubov quark-meson coupling model

A quark-meson coupling model based on the quark model proposed by Bogoliubov for the description of the quark dynamics is developed and applied to the description of neutron stars. Starting from a su(3) symmetry approach, it is shown that this symmetry has to be broken in order to satisfy the constraints set by the hypernuclei and by neutron stars. The model is able to describe observations such as two solar mass stars or the radius of canonical neutron stars within the uncertainties presently accepted. If the optical potentials for $Λ$ and $Ξ$ hyperons in symmetric nuclear matter at saturation obtained from laboratory measurements of hypernuclei properties are imposed the model predicts no strangeness inside neutron stars.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2020

Light clusters in warm stellar matter: calibrating the cluster couplings

The abundances of light clusters within a formalism that considers in-medium effects are calculated using several relativistic mean-field models, with both density-dependent and density-independent couplings. Clusters are introduced as new quasiparticles, with a modified coupling to the scalar meson field. A comparison with experimental data from heavy ion collisions allows settling the model dependence of the results and the determination of the couplings of the light clusters to the meson fields. We find that extra experimental constraints at higher density are needed to convincingly pin down the density associated to the melting of clusters in the dense nuclear medium. The role of neutron rich clusters, such as $^6$He, in asymmetric matter is discussed.

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arXiv2020

Effect of the crust on neutron star empirical relations

We analyze how the crust equation of state affects several neutron star properties and how it impacts on possible constraints inferred from astrophysical observations. Using three distinct crusts, we generate three sets of model-independent equations of state describing stellar matter from a Taylor expansion around saturation density. The equations of state are thermodynamically consistent, causal, and compatible with astrophysical observations. The relations between the tidal deformability $Λ$ and compactness $C$, Love number $k_2$ and radius of neutron star with mass $M$ are studied, and the effect of the crust equation of state on these relations analyzed. In most of the relations, the impact of the crust equation of state is not larger that 2\%. If, however, a fixed neutron star mass is considered, the relation between the tidal deformability and the radius depends on the crust. We have found that the relation $Λ_{M_i} = αR_{M_i}^β$ becomes almost exact and crust independent for massive neutron stars. It is shown that it is possible to determine the tidal deformability of an 1.4$M_\odot$ star from the GW179817 effective tidal deformability $\tildeΛ$ with an accuracy of at least $\approx 10\%$. A high correlation between $\tildeΛ$ and the radius of the most massive star of the neutron star binary was confirmed, however, it was demonstrated that the crust has an effect of $\approx 14\%$ on this relation. We have found that the relation $Λ_1/Λ_2=q^a$ depends on $M_{\text{chirp}}$ as $a\sim \sqrt{M_{\text{chirp}}}$.

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arXiv2020

Improved method for the experimental determination of in-medium effects from heavy-ion collisions

The equation of state with light clusters for nuclear and stellar matter is determined using chemical equilibrium constants evaluated from the analysis of the recently published (Xe$+$Sn) heavy ion data, corresponding to three reactions with different isotopic contents of the emission source. The measured multiplicities are used to extract the thermodynamic properties, and an in-medium correction to the ideal gas internal partition function of the clusters is included in the analysis. This in-medium correction and its respective uncertainty are calculated via a Bayesian analysis, with the unique hypothesis that the different nuclear species in a given sample must correspond to a unique common value for the density of the expanding source. Different parameter sets for the correction are tested, and the effect of the radius of the clusters on the thermodynamics and on the chemical equilibrium constants is also addressed. It is shown that the equilibrium constants obtained are almost independent of the isospin content of the analysed systems. Finally, a comparison with a relativistic mean field model proves that data are consistent with a universal in-medium correction of the scalar $σ$-meson coupling for nucleons bound in clusters. The obtained value, $g_s/g_s^0 = 0.92 \pm 0.02$, is larger than that obtained in a previous study not including in-medium effects in the data analysis. This result implies a smaller effect on the binding energy of the clusters and, as a consequence, larger melting densities, and an increased cluster contribution in supernova matter.

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arXiv2020

Neutron star inner crust: effects of rotation and magnetic fields

We study the role of the pasta phases on the properties of rotating and magnetized neutron stars. In order to investigate such systems, we make use of two different relativistic mean-field unified inner-crust--core equations of state, with a different density dependence of the symmetry energy, and an inner-crust computed within a Thomas-Fermi calculation. Special attention is given to the crust-core transition density, and the pasta phases effects on the global properties of stars. The effects of strong magnetic fields and fast rotation are computed by solving the Einstein-Maxwell equations self-consistently, taking into account anisotropies induced by the centrifugal and the Lorentz force. The location of the magnetic field neutral line and the maximum of the Lorentz force on the equatorial plane are calculated. The conditions under which they fall inside the inner crust region are discussed. We verified that models with a larger symmetry energy slope show more sensitivity to the variation of the magnetic field. One of the maxima of the Lorentz force, as well as the neutral line, and for a certain range of frequencies, fall inside the inner crust region. This may have consequences in the fracture of the crust, and may help explain phenomena associated with star quakes.

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arXiv2020

Role of the conserved charges in the chiral symmetry restoration phase transition

The effect of conserved baryon, isospin and strangeness charges on the behavior of phase transitions in dense matter is studied. Baryonic matter is described within the three-flavor Polyakov$-$Nambu$-$Jona-Lasinio model and several charge fractions $Y_Q$ are considered. The role of the vector interaction, which can be important to describe dense systems, is discussed. Special attention is given to the case with charge fraction $Y_Q=0.4$, due to its importance in heavy-ion collisions and core-collapse supernova matter. It is shown that the possible formation of chiral-symmetric quark matter in the laboratory will be favored in asymmetric matter. Besides, the inclusion of the vector interaction reinforces the formation of quark matter at lower densities.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Quark matter in light neutron stars

Higher-order repulsive interactions are included in the three-flavor NJL model in order to describe the quark phase of an hybrid star. The effect of 4-quark and 8-quark vector-isoscalar interactions in the stability of hybrid star configurations is analyzed. The presence of a 8-quark vector-isoscalar channel is seen to be crucial in generating large quark branches in the $M(R)$ diagram. This is due to its stiffening effect on the quark matter equation of state which arises from the non-linear density dependence of the speed of sound. This additional interaction channel allows for the appearance of a quark core at moderately low NS masses, $\sim 1M_{\odot}$, and provides the required repulsion to preserve the star stability up to $\sim2.1M_{\odot}$. Furthermore, we show that both the heaviest NS mass generated, $M_{\text{max}}$, and its radii, $R_{\text{max}}$, are quite sensitive to the strength of 8-quark vector-isoscalar channel, leading to a considerable decrease of $R_{\text{max}}$ as the coupling increases. This behavior imprints a considerable deviation from the purely hadronic matter equation of state in the $Λ(M)$ diagram, which might be a possible signature of the quark matter existence, even for moderately low NS masses, $\sim 1.4\, M_\odot$. The resulting $M(R)$ and $Λ(R)$ relations are in accordance with the latest astrophysical constraints from NICER and Ligo/VIRGO observations, respectively.

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arXiv2020

Unveiling the correlations of tidal deformability with the nuclear symmetry energy parameters

The chi-squared based covariance approach allows one to estimate the correlations among desired observables related to nuclear matter directly from a set of fit data without taking recourse to the distributions of the nuclear matter parameters (NMPs). Such an approach is applied to study the correlations of tidal deformability of neutron star with the slope and the curvature parameters of nuclear symmetry energy governed by an extensive set of fit data on the finite nuclei together with the maximum mass of the neutron star. The knowledge of the distributions of NMPs consistent with the fit data is implicitly inbuilt in the Hessian matrix which is central to this covariance approach. Comparing our results with those obtained with the explicit use of the distributions of NMPs, we show that the appropriate correlations among NMPs as induced by the fit data are instrumental in strengthening the correlations of the tidal deformability with the symmetry energy parameters, without it, the said correlations tend to disappear. The interplay between isoscalar and isovector NMPs is also emphasized.

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arXiv2020

Neutron stars with large quark cores

We describe charge-neutral neutron star matter in $β-$equilibrium using hybrid equations of state, where a first-order phase transition from hadronic to quark matter is realized. The hadronic matter is described in a model-independent way by a Taylor expansion around saturation density $n_0$, while the three-flavor NJL model is used for the quark matter. Exploring the present uncertainty on the empirical parameters of nuclear matter and the parameter space of the NJL model, we construct two datasets of thermodynamically consistent and causal hybrid EoSs, compatible with astrophysical observations. We conclude that, to sustain a considerable quark core size, the intensity of the phase transition from hadron to quark matter cannot be strong, having a energy density gap below $200$ MeV/fm$^3$, and must occur at baryon densities not above four times the saturation density. A non zero but not too strong quark vector-isoscalar term and a weak vector isovector quark term are required. Large quark cores carrying almost half of the star mass are possible inside neutron stars with a maximum mass $\approx 2.2 M_\odot$. To get a considerable number of hybrid EoS predicting quark matter already inside neutron stars with a mass $\sim 1.4 M_\odot$, we require that the onset of quarks occurs in the range $1.3n_0$ and $2.5n_0$. Neutron stars with large quark cores corresponding to more than one fourth of the total star mass, are possible if the energy density gap and the pressure at transition are below 100 MeV/fm$^3$. However, under these constraints, the maximum neutron star mass is limited to $ \lesssim 2.06 M_{\odot}$. No strong signatures from quark matter were found on the radius and the tidal deformability for neutron star masses below $1.8\, M_\odot$.

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arXiv2020

Low-density in-medium effects on light clusters from heavy-ion data

The modification of the ground state properties of light atomic nuclei in the nuclear and stellar medium is addressed, using chemical equilibrium constants evaluated from a new analysis of the intermediate energy heavy-ion (Xe$+$Sn) collision data measured by the INDRA collaboration. Three different reactions are considered, mainly differing by the isotopic content of the emission source. The thermodynamic conditions of the data samples are extracted from the measured multiplicities allowing for a parametrization of the in-medium modification, determined with the single hypothesis that the different nuclear species in a given sample correspond to a unique common value for the density of the expanding source. We show that this correction, which was not considered in previous analyses of chemical constants from heavy ion collisions, is necessary, since the observables of the analyzed systems show strong deviations from the expected results for an ideal gas of free clusters. This data set is further compared to a relativistic mean-field model, and seen to be reasonably compatible with a universal correction of the attractive $σ$-meson coupling.

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arXiv2019

Empirical constraints on the high-density equation of state from multi-messenger observables

We search for possible correlations between neutron star observables and thermodynamic quantities that characterize high density nuclear matter. We generate a set of model-independent equations of state describing stellar matter from a Taylor expansion around saturation density. Each equation of state which is a functional of the nuclear matter parameters is thermodynamically consistent, causal and compatible with astrophysical observations. We find that the neutron star tidal deformability and radius are strongly correlated with the pressure, the energy density and the sound velocity at different densities. Similar correlations are also exhibited by a large set of mean-field models based on non-relativistic and relativistic nuclear energy density functionals. These model independent correlations can be employed to constrain the equation of state at different densities above saturation from measurements of NS properties with multi-messenger observations. In particular, precise constraints on the radius of PSR J0030+0451 thanks to NICER observations would allow to better infer the properties of matter around two times the nuclear saturation density.

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arXiv2019

Limiting magnetic field for minimal deformation of a magnetised neutron star

In this work we study the structure of neutron stars under the effect of a poloidal magnetic field and determine the limiting highest magnetic field intensity which still allows a satisfactory description of magnetic neutron stars in the spherical symmetry regime. We describe different compositions of stars (nucleonic, hyperonic, and hybrid), using three state-of-the-art relativistic mean field models for the microscopic description of matter, which are in agreement with experimental and observational data. The structure of stars is described by the general relativistic solution of both Einstein's field equations assuming a spherical symmetry, and Einstein-Maxwell's field equations assuming an axi-symmetric deformation. We find a limiting magnetic moment of the order of $2\times 10^{31}$Am$^2$, which corresponds to magnetic fields of the order of 10$^{16}$ G at the surface, and $ \sim 10^{17}$ G at the centre of the star, above which the deformation due to the magnetic field is not negligible. We show that the intensity of the magnetic field developed in the star depends on the EoS, and, for a given baryonic mass and fixed magnetic moment, larger fields are attained with softer EoS. We also show that the appearance of exotic degrees of freedom, such as hyperons or a quark core, is disfavored in the presence of a very strong magnetic field. As a consequence, a highly magnetized nucleonic star may suffer an internal conversion due to the decay of the magnetic field, which could be accompanied by a sudden cooling of the star or a gamma ray burst.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2019

Full distribution of clusters with universal couplings and in-medium effects

Light and heavy clusters are calculated for asymmetric warm nuclear matter in a relativistic mean-field approach. In-medium effects, introduced via a universal cluster-meson coupling, and a binding energy shift contribution, calculated in a Thomas-Fermi approximation, were taken into account. This work considers, besides the standard lightest bound clusters $^4$He, $^3$He, $^3$H, and $^2$H, also stable and unstable clusters with higher number of nucleons, in the range $5\leq A \leq 12$, as it is natural that heavier clusters also form in core-collapse supernova matter, before the pasta phases set in. We show that these extra degrees of freedom contribute with non-negligible mass fractions to the composition of nuclear matter, and may prevail over deuterons and $α$ particles at high density in strongly asymmetric matter, and not too high temperatures. The presence of the light clusters reduces the contribution of heavy clusters to a much smaller density range, and to a smaller mass fraction.

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arXiv2019

Neutron star properties: Constraining the nuclear matter EoS

We examine the influence of the density dependence of the symmetry energy on several properties of neutron stars. In particular, we study the constraints set on the nuclear matter equation of state by the values of the tidal deformability and neutron star radius, using a diverse set of relativistic and non-relativistic mean field models consistent with bulk properties of finite nuclei and the observed lower bound on the maximum mass of neutron star. The tidal deformability and radius show a strong correlation with specific linear combinations of the isoscalar and isovector nuclear matter parameters associated with the EoS. Such correlations suggest that a precise value of the radius or the tidal deformability can put tight bounds on several EoS parameters, in particular, on the slope of the incompressibility and the curvature of the symmetry energy. We show that the density dependence of the symmetry energy has a direct influence on the amount of strangeness inside cold dense matter and, consequently, on the direct Urca process and cooling of neutron stars. We explain the low luminosity of SAX 1808.4-3658 as a result of hyperonic direct Urca processes. Finally, we discuss the strong influence of the density dependence of the symmetry energy on the extension of the crust-core transition region of a magnetized neutron star. The increase of the crust and its of complexity, due to the magnetic field effect, may have a role on the glitch mechanism or on the magnetic field decay.

astro-ph.HE↗