arXiv subjects

David Blaschke

Publications and source records attributed to David Blaschke.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Effects of a strong phase transition on supernova explosions, compact stars and their mergers

We outline a theoretical approach supporting strong phase transitions from normal nuclear matter to the deconfined quark-gluon plasma, in the equation of state (EOS) for compact star matter. Implications of this hypothesis are discussed for astrophysical applications. Special emphasis is devoted to potentially detectable signatures, which can be directly related with the occurrence of a sufficiently strong phase transition. Therefore, simulations of core-collapse supernovae and binary compact star mergers are considered, including the subsequent emission of gravitational waves and, in the case of supernova, in addition the neutrinos play the role of messengers.

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arXiv2021

Confining density functional approach for color superconducting quark matter and mesonic correlations

We present a novel relativistic density-functional approach to modeling quark matter with a mechanism to mimic confinement. The quasiparticle treatment of quarks provides their suppression due to large quark selfenergy already at the mean-field level. We demonstrate that our approach is equivalent to a chiral quark model with medium-dependent couplings. The dynamical restoration of the chiral symmetry is ensured by construction of the density functional. Beyond the mean field, quark correlations in the pseudoscalar channel are described within the Gaussian approximation. This explicitly introduces pionic states into the model. Their contribution to the thermodynamics potential is analyzed within the Beth-Uhlenbeck framework. The modification of the meson mass spectrum in the vicinity of thee (de)confinement transition is interpreted as the Mott transition. Supplemented with the vector repulsion and diquark pairing the model is applied to construct a hybrid quark-hadron EoS of cold compact-star matter. We study the connection of such a hybrid EoS with the stellar mass-radius relation and tidal deformability. The model results are compared to various observational constraints including the NICER radius measurement of PSR J0740+6620 and the tidal deformability constraint from GW170817. The model is shown to be consistent with the constraints, still allowing for further improvement by adjusting the vector repulsion and diquark pairing couplings.

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arXiv2021

Locating the special point of hybrid neutron stars

The special point is a feature unique to models of hybrid neutron stars. It represents a location on their mass--radius sequences that is insensitive to the phase transition density. We consider hybrid neutron stars with a core of deconfined quark matter that obeys a constant--sound--speed (CSS) equation of state model and provide a fit formula for the coordinates of the special point as functions of the squared sound speed ($c_s^2$) and pressure scale ($A$) parameters. Using the special point mass as a proxy for the maximum mass of the hybrid stars we derive limits for the CSS model parameters based on the recent NICER constraint on mass and radius of pulsar PSR J0740+6620, $0.36 < {c^2_s}_{\rm min} < 0.43$ and $80<A [{\rm MeV/fm}^3]<160$. The upper limit for the maximum mass of hybrid stars depends on the upper limit for $c_s^2$ so that choosing $c^2_{s,max} = 0.6$ results in $M_{\rm max}<2.7~M_\odot$, within the mass range of GW190814.

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arXiv2021

Hybrid neutron stars in the mass-radius diagram

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. The study is performed within the two-phase approach where the high-density (quark matter) phase is described by the constant-sound-speed (CSS) equation of state (EoS) and the nuclear matter phase around saturation density is varied from very soft (APR) to stiff (DD2 with excluded nucleon volume. Different construction schemes for the deconfinement transition are applied: Maxwell construction, mixed phase construction and parabolic interpolation. We demonstrate for the first time that the SP is invariant not only against changing the nuclear matter EoS, but also against variation of the construction schemes for the phase transition. Since the SP serves as a proxy for the maximum mass and accessible radii of massive hybrid stars, we draw conclusions for the limiting masses and radii of hybrid neutron stars.

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arXiv2021

Unified quark-hadron EoS and critical endpoint in the QCD phase diagram

We present a recent development towards a unified description of quark-hadron matter in the QCD phase diagram that is based on a cluster decomposition of the generalized Beth-Uhlenbeck approach to quark matter, selfconsistently coupled to Polyakov-loop and mesonic background fields. The Mott dissociation of hadrons under extreme conditions of temperature and density is triggered by chiral symmetry restoration and confining aspects are modeled by the coupling to the background mean fields. First results for the QCD phase diagram with the capability to describe critical endpoints as well as crossover-all-over are presented and an excellent agreement with lattice QCD on the temperature axis is obtained.

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arXiv2021

Studying the onset of deconfinement with multi-messenger astronomy of neutron stars

With the first multi-messenger observation of a binary neutron star merger (GW170817) new constraints became available for masses and radii of neutron stars. We introduce a class of hybrid EoS that fulfils all these constraints and predicts a region in the mass-radius diagram that could be populated only by hybrid neutron stars with quark matter cores. A confirmation of this conjecture would be provided when the NICER radius measurement for the high-mass pulsar PSR J0740+6620 yields a radius less than 11 km. Would this radius measurement yield a result in excess of 12 km, this would allow for both, a purely hadronic and a hybrid nature of this star. In the latter case the maximum mass could reach $2.6~M_\odot$ so that the lighter object in the asymmetric binary merger GW190814 could have been a hybrid star. We demonstrate that this high mass can be compatible with an early onset of deconfinement at star masses below $1~M_\odot$ and the occurrence of low-mass twin stars. In such a case the remnant of GW170817 could be a long-lived hypermassive pulsar.

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arXiv2020

The special point on the hybrid star mass--radius diagram and its multi--messenger implications

We show the existence and investigate the location of the special point (SP) in which hybrid neutron star mass-radius (M-R) curves have to cross each other when they belong to a class of hybrid equation of state (EoS) constructed with generic constant--speed--of--sound (CSS) quark matter models for which the onset deconfinement is varied. We demonstrate that for a three-parameter CSS model the position of the SP in the M-R diagram is largely independent of the choice of the hadronic EoS, but in dependence on the stiffness of the quark matter EoS it spans a region that we identify. We find that the difference between the maximum mass and the SP mass depends on the mass at the onset of deconfinement so that an upper limit of $0.19~M_\odot$ for this difference is obtained from which a lower limit on the radius of hybrid stars is deduced. Together with a lower limit on the radius of hadronic stars, derived from a class of reasonably soft hadronic EoS including hyperons, we identify a region in the M-R diagram which can be occupied only by hybrid stars. Accordingly, we suggest that a NICER radius measurement on the massive pulsar PSR J0740+6620 in the range of 8.6-11.9 km would indicate that this pulsar is a hybrid neutron star with deconfined quark matter in the inner core.

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arXiv2020

Toward a unified equation of state for multi-messenger astronomy

We present a first step in developing a benchmark equation-of-state (EoS) model for multi-messenger astronomy that unifies the thermodynamics of quark and hadronic degrees of freedom. A Lagrangian approach to the thermodynamic potential of quark-meson-nucleon (QMN) matter was used. In this approach, dynamical chiral-symmetry breaking is described by the scalar mean-field dynamics coupled to quarks and nucleons and their chiral partners, whereby its restoration occurs in the hadronic phase by parity doubling, as well as in the quark phase. Quark confinement was achieved by an auxiliary scalar field that parametrizes a dynamical infrared cutoff in the quark sector, serving as an ultraviolet cutoff for the nucleonic phase space. The gap equations were solved for the isospin-symmetric case, as well as for neutron star (NS) conditions. We also calculated the mass-radius (MR) relation of NSs and their tidal deformability parameter. The obtained EoS is in accordance with nuclear matter properties at saturation density and with the flow constraint from heavy ion collision experiments. For isospin-asymmetric matter, a sequential occurrence of light quark flavors is obtained, allowing for a mixed phase of chirally-symmetric nucleonic matter with deconfined down quarks. The MR relations and TDs for compact stars fulfill the constraints from the latest astrophysical observations for PSR J0740+6620, PSR J0030+0451, and the NS merger GW170817, whereby the tension between the maximum mass and compactness constraints rather uniquely fixes the model parameters. The model predicts the existence of stars with a core of chirally restored but purely hadronic (confined) matter for masses beyond $1.8~M_\odot$. Stars with pure-quark matter cores are found to be unstable against the gravitational collapse. This instability is shifted to even higher densities if repulsive interactions between quarks are included.

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arXiv2020

Chirally improved quark Pauli blocking in nuclear matter and applications to quark deconfinement in neutron stars

The relativistic mean field (RMF) model of the nuclear matter equation of state has been modified by including the effect of Pauli-blocking owing to quark exchange between the baryons. Different schemes of a chiral enhancement of the quark Pauli blocking have been suggested according to the adopted density dependence of the dynamical quark mass. The resulting equations of state for the pressure are compared to the RMF model DD2 with excluded volume correction. On the basis of this comparison a density-dependent nucleon volume is extracted which parametrises the quark Pauli blocking effect in the respective scheme of chiral enhancement. The dependence on the isospin asymmetry is investigated and the corresponding density dependent nuclear symmetry energy is obtained in fair accordance with phenomenological constraints. The deconfinement phase transition is obtained by a Maxwell construction with a quark matter phase described within a higher order NJL model. Solutions for rotating and nonrotating (hybrid) compact star sequences are obtained which show the effect of high-mass twin compact star solutions for the rotating case.

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arXiv2020

Was GW170817 a canonical neutron star merger? Bayesian analysis with a third family of compact stars

We investigate the possibility that GW170817 has not been the merger of two conventional neutron stars (NS) but involved at least one if not two hybrid stars with a quark matter core which might even belong to a third family of compact stars. To this end, we develop a Bayesian analysis method for selecting the most probable equation of state (EoS) under a set of constraints from compact star physics, which now also include the tidal deformability from GW170817 and the first result for the mass and radius determination for PSR J0030+0451 by NICER. We apply this method for the first time to a two-parameter family of hybrid EoS based on the DD2 model with nucleonic excluded volume for hadronic matter and the color superconducting generalized nlNJL model for quark matter. The model has a variable onset of deconfinement and can mimic the effects of pasta phases with the possibility of a third family of hybrid stars in the mass-radius ($M-R$) diagram. The main findings of this study are that: 1) the presence of multiple configurations for a given mass (twins) corresponds to a set of disconnected lines in the diagram of tidal deformabilities for binary mergers, so that merger events from the same mass range may result in a probability landscape with different peak positions; 2) the Bayesian analysis with the above observational constraints favors an early onset of the deconfinement transition, at masses of $M_{\rm onset}\le 0.8~M_\odot$ with a $M-R$ relationship that in the range of observed neutron star masses is almost indistinguishable from that of a soft hadronic APR EoS; 3) a few yet fictitious measurements of the NICER experiment with a $1σ$ range that is half of the present value and different mass and radius would change the posterior likelihood so that hybrid EoS with a phase transition onset in the range $M_{\rm onset} = 1.1 - 1.6~M_\odot $ would be favored.

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arXiv2020

A mixing interpolation method to mimic pasta phases in compact star matter

We present a new method to interpolate between two matter phases that allows for a description of mixed phases and can be used, e.g., for mimicking transitions between pasta structures occuring in the crust as well as in the inner core of compact stars. This interpolation method is based on assuming switch functions that are used to define a mixture of subphases while fulfilling constraints of thermodynamic stability. The width of the transition depends on a free parameter, the pressure increment relative to the critical pressure of a Maxwell construction. As an example we present a trigonometric function ansatz for the switch function together with a pressure increment during the transition. We note that the resulting mixed phase equation of state bears similarities with the appearance of substitutional compounds in neutron star crusts and with the sequence of transitions between different pasta phases in the hadron-to-quark matter transition. We apply this method to the case of a hadron-to-quark matter transition and test the robustness of the compact star mass twin phenomenon against the appearance of pasta phases modeled in this way.

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arXiv2020

Nonequilibrium pion distribution within the Zubarev approach

We discuss how the nonequilibrium process of pion production within the Zubarev approach of the nonequilibrium statistical operator leads to a theoretical foundation for the appearance of a nonequilibrium pion chemical potential for the pion distribution function for which there is experimental evidence in experiments at the CERN LHC.

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arXiv2019

Accretion-induced collapse to third family compact stars as trigger for eccentric orbits of millisecond pulsars in binaries

A numerical rotating neutron star solver is used to study the temporal evolution of accreting neutron stars using a multi-polytrope model for the nuclear equation of state named ACB5. The solver is based on a quadrupole expansion of the metric, but confirms the results of previous works, revealing the possibility of an abrupt transition of a neutron star from a purely hadronic branch to a third-family branch of stable hybrid stars, passing through an unstable intermediate branch. The accretion is described through a sequence of stationary rotating {stellar} configurations which lose angular momentum through magnetic dipole emission while, at the same time, gaining angular momentum through mass accretion. The model has several free parameters which are inferred from observations. The mass accretion scenario is studied in dependence on the effectiveness of angular momentum transfer which determines at which spin frequency the neutron star will become unstable against gravitational collapse to the corresponding hybrid star on the stable third-family branch. It is conceivable that the neutrino burst which accompanies the deconfinement transition may trigger a pulsar kick which results in the eccentric orbit. A consequence of the present model is the prediction of a correlation between the spin frequency of the millisecond pulsar in the eccentric orbit and its mass at birth.

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arXiv2019

Parity Doubling and the Dense Matter Phase Diagram under Constraints from Multi-Messenger Astronomy

We extend the recently developed hybrid quark-meson-nucleon model by augmenting a six-point scalar interaction and investigate the consequences for neutron-star sequences in the mass-radius diagram. The model has the characteristic feature that, at increasing baryon density, the chiral symmetry is restored within the hadronic phase by lifting the mass splitting between chiral partner states (parity doubling), before quark deconfinement takes place. At low temperature and finite baryon density, the model predicts a first-, second-order chiral phase transition, or a crossover, depending on the expectation value of the scalar field, and a first-order deconfinement phase transition. We discuss two sets of free parameters, which result in compact-star mass-radius relations that are at tension with the combined constraints for maximum-mass ($2~M_\odot$) and the compactness (GW170817). We find that the most preferable mass-radius relations result in isospin-symmetric phase diagram with rather low temperature for the critical point of the chiral phase transition.

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arXiv2019

Astrophysical aspects of general relativistic mass twin stars

In this chapter we will introduce an effective equation of state (EoS) model based on polytropes that serves to study the so called "mass twins" scenario, where two compact stars have approximately the same mass but (significant for observation) quite different radii. Stellar mass twin configurations are obtained if a strong first-order phase transition occurs in the interior of a compact star. In the mass-radius diagram of compact stars, this will lead to a third branch of gravitationally stable stars with features that are very distinctive from those of white dwarfs and neutron stars. We discuss rotating hybrid star sequences in the slow rotation approximation and in full general relativity and draw conclusions for an upper limit on the maximum mass of nonrotating compact stars that has recently be deduced from the observation of the merger event GW170817.

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arXiv2019

Equation-of-state Constraints and the QCD Phase Transition in the Era of Gravitational-Wave Astronomy

We describe a multi-messenger interpretation of GW170817, which yields a robust lower limit on NS radii. This excludes NSs with radii smaller than about 10.7 km and thus rules out very soft nuclear matter. We stress the potential of this type of constraints when future detections become available. A very similar argumentation may yield an upper bound on the maximum mass of nonrotating NSs. We also discuss simulations of NS mergers, which undergo a first-order phase transition to quark matter. We point out a different dynamical behavior. Considering the gravitational-wave signal, we identify an unambiguous signature of the QCD phase transition in NS mergers. The occurrence of quark matter through a strong first-order phase transition during merging leads to a characteristic shift of the dominant postmerger frequency. The frequency shift is indicative for a phase transition if it is compared to the postmerger frequency which is expected for purely hadronic EoS models. A very strong deviation of several 100 Hz is observed for hybrid EoSs in an otherwise tight relation between the tidal deformability and the postmerger frequency. We address the potential impact of a first-order phase transition on the electromagnetic counterpart of NS mergers. Our simulations suggest that there would be no significant qualitative differences between a system undergoing a phase transition to quark matter and purely hadronic mergers. The quantitative differences are within the spread which is found between different hadronic EoS models. This implies on the one hand that GW170817 is compatible with a possible transition to quark matter. On the other hand these considerations show that it may not be easy to identify quantitative differences between purely hadronic mergers and events in which quark matter occurs considering solely their electromagnetic counterpart or their nucleosynthesis products. (abridged)

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arXiv2019

Low-momentum pion enhancement from schematic hadronization of a gluon-saturated initial state

We study the particle production in the early stage of the ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. To this end the Boltzmann kinetic equations for gluons and pions with elastic rescattering are considered together with a simple model for the parton-hadron conversion process (hadronisation). It is shown that the overpopulation of the gluon phase space in the initial state leads to an intermediate stage of Bose enhancement in the low-momentum gluon sector which due to the gluon-pion conversion process is then reflected in the final distribution function of pions. This pattern is very similar to the experimental finding of a low-momentum pion enhancement in the ALICE experiment at CERN LHC. Relations to the thermal statistical model of hadron production and the phenomenon of thermal and chemical freeze-out are discussed in this context.

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arXiv2018

Chiral symmetry restoration by parity doubling and the structure of neutron stars

Recent lattice QCD studies at vanishing density exhibit the parity-doubling structure for the low-lying baryons around the chiral crossover temperature. This finding is likely an imprint of the chiral symmetry restoration in the baryonic sector of QCD, and is expected to occur also in cold dense matter, which makes it of major relevance for compact stars. By contrast, typical effective models for compact star matter embody chiral physics solely in the deconfined sector, with quarks as degrees of freedom. In this contribution, we present a description of QCD matter based on the effective hybrid quark-meson-nucleon model. Its characteristic feature is that, under neutron-star conditions, the chiral symmetry is restored in a first-order phase transition deep in the hadronic phase, before the deconfinement of quarks takes place. We discuss the implications of the parity doubling of baryons on the mass-radius relation for compact stars obtained in accordance with the modern constraints on the mass from PSR J0348+0432, the compactness from GW170817, as well as the direct URCA process threshold. We show that the existence of high-mass stars might not necessarily signal the deconfinement of quarks.

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