Anisotropic pressure in strange quark matter under the presence of a strong magnetic field

TL;DR

This paper investigates the thermodynamic behavior and pressure anisotropy of strange quark matter under extremely strong magnetic fields, revealing conditions leading to longitudinal instability and implications for magnetar interiors.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of pressure anisotropy and instability thresholds in strange quark matter within the MIT bag model at ultra-strong magnetic fields.

Findings

Pressure anisotropy becomes significant above 10^{17} G.

Longitudinal pressure vanishes near 10^{18} G, causing instability.

Longitudinal instability prevents significant s-quark depletion and positron appearance.

Abstract

Thermodynamic properties of strange quark matter in strong magnetic fields $H$ up to $10^{20}$ G are considered within the MIT bag model at zero temperature implying the constraints of total baryon number conservation, charge neutrality and chemical equilibrium. The pressure anisotropy, exhibiting in the difference between the pressures along and perpendicular to the field direction, becomes essential at $H>H_{th}$, with the estimate $10^{17}<H_{th}\lesssim10^{18}$ G. The longitudinal pressure vanishes in the critical field $H_c$, which can be somewhat less or larger than $10^{18}$ G, depending on the total baryon number density and bag pressure. As a result, the longitudinal instability occurs in strange quark matter, which precludes: (1) a significant drop in the content of $s$ quarks, which, otherwise, could happen at $H\sim10^{20}$ G; (2) the appearance of positrons in weak processes in a narrow interval near $H\sim2\cdot10^{19}$ G (replacing electrons). The occurrence of the longitudinal instability leaves the possibility only for electrons to reach a fully polarized state, while for all quark flavors the polarization remains mild even for the fields near $H_c$. The anisotropic equation of state is determined under the conditions relevant to the interiors of magnetars.