Dense matter is strong magnetic fields

TL;DR

This paper investigates how extremely strong magnetic fields, like those in magnetars, affect the properties and stability of dense hypernuclear and quark matter, revealing significant anisotropy and instability at high field strengths.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the equation of state and composition of dense matter under ultra-strong magnetic fields, highlighting the magnetic influence on matter properties and stability thresholds.

Findings

Magnetic fields ≥10^17 G significantly affect hypernuclear matter properties.

Magnetic fields ≥10^18 G significantly affect quark matter properties.

Both matter types become unstable above their respective critical magnetic fields.

Abstract

Compact stars having strong magnetic fields (magnetars) have been observationally determined to have surface magnetic fields of order of 10^14-10^15 G, the implied internal field strength being several orders larger. We study the equation of state and composition of hypernuclear matter and quark matter - two forms of dense matter in strong magnetic fields. We find that the magnetic field has substantial influence on the properties of hypernuclear matter and quark matter for magnetic field B \ge 10^17 G and B \ge 10^18 G respectively. In particular the matter properties become anisotropic. Moreover, above a critical field B_cr, both hypernuclear and quark matter show instability, although the values of B_cr are different for two kinds of matter.