Hadron-quark phase transition: the QCD phase diagram and stellar conversion

TL;DR

This paper investigates the hadron-quark phase transition using extended Nambu-Jona-Lasinio models, analyzing the conditions for star conversion and the sensitivity of transition parameters, with implications for neutron star evolution.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the hadron-quark phase transition parameters and their impact on stellar conversions using extended NJL models, highlighting the sensitivity to model parameters.

Findings

Transition point is highly sensitive to model parameters.

Increasing vector interaction strength raises pressure and chemical potential.

Conversion from metastable hadronic to quark stars is generally energetically forbidden.

Abstract

Different extensions of the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model, known to satisfy expected QCD chiral symmetry aspects, are used to investigate a possible hadron-quark phase transition at zero temperature and to build the corresponding binodal sections. We have shown that the transition point is very sensitive to the model parameters and that both pressure and chemical potential increase drastically with the increase of the vector interaction strength in the quark sector. Within the same framework, the possibility of quark and hybrid star formation is analyzed. The same conclusions drawn before with respect to the coexistence pressure and chemical potentials are reinforced. We conclude that even if a transition from a metastable hadronic star to a quark star is thermodinamically possible, it is either energetically forbidden or gives rise to a blackhole. Nevertheless, conversions from metastable to hybrid stars are possible, but the mass difference between both compact objects is very small, never larger than 0.2 M$_\odot$.