Quark deconfinement as supernova explosion engine for massive blue-supergiant stars

TL;DR

This paper proposes that quark deconfinement triggered by a phase transition in dense nuclear matter can power energetic supernova explosions of massive blue-supergiant stars, explaining observed supernova diversity and predicting observable neutrino signals.

Contribution

It introduces a novel supernova explosion mechanism based on a first-order phase transition to quark-gluon plasma in massive stars, linking nuclear physics with astrophysical phenomena.

Findings

Explains diverse supernova lightcurves including super-luminous events.

Predicts formation of neutron stars with quark matter cores (~2 solar masses).

Suggests potential neutrino signals from galactic events.

Abstract

Blue-supergiant stars develop into core-collapse supernovae --- one of the most energetic outbursts in the universe --- when all nuclear burning fuel is exhausted in the stellar core. Previous attempts failed to explain observed explosions of such stars which have a zero-age main sequence mass of 50~M$_\odot$ or more. Here we exploit the largely uncertain state of matter at high density, and connect the modeling of such stellar explosions with a first-order phase transition from nuclear matter to the quark-gluon plasma. The resulting energetic supernova explosions can account for a large variety of lightcurves, from peculiar type II to super-luminous events. The remnants are neutron stars with quark matter core, known as hybrid stars, of about 2~M$_\odot$ at birth. A galactic event of this kind could be observable due to the release of a second neutrino burst. Its observation would confirm such a first-order phase transition at densities relevant for astrophysics.