On thermal nucleation of quark matter in compact stars

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether thermal nucleation can facilitate a hadron-quark phase transition in extreme astrophysical events like supernova core-collapse, by comparing nucleation time scales with astrophysical time constraints.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the time scales for quark matter nucleation and assesses their feasibility in astrophysical phenomena.

Findings

Thermal nucleation time scales can be compatible with supernova core-collapse durations.

Conditions for phase transition depend critically on density and temperature thresholds.

The study supports the possibility of hadron-quark conversion during stellar collapse.

Abstract

The possibility of a hadron-quark phase transition in extreme astrophysical phenomena such as the collapse of a supernova is not discarded by the modern knowledge of the high-energy nuclear and quark-matter equations of state. Both the density and the temperature attainable in such extreme processes are possibly high enough to trigger a chiral phase transition. However, the time scales involved are an important issue. Even if the physical conditions for the phase transition are favorable (for a system in equilibrium), there may not be enough time for the dynamical process of phase conversion to be completed. We analyze the relevant time scales for the phase conversion via thermal nucleation of bubbles of quark matter and compare them to the typical astrophysical time scale, in order to verify the feasibility of the scenario of hadron-quark phase conversion during, for example, the core-collapse of a supernova.