Tidal deformability and other global parameters of compact stars with strong phase transitions

TL;DR

This study models dense matter phase transitions in compact stars using parametric equations of state to analyze their global parameters, compare with observations, and predict features detectable in gravitational wave data.

Contribution

It introduces a flexible parametric approach to model phase transitions in dense matter and explores their effects on observable star parameters, including tidal deformability and radii.

Findings

Constraints on hybrid equations of state for stable neutron star twins.

Minimum radius of twin branches is 9.5-10.5 km.

Phase transition occurs below 0.56 fm$^{-3}$ in most models.

Abstract

Using parametric equations of state (relativistic polytropes and a simple quark bag model) to model dense-matter phase transitions, we study global, measurable astrophysical parameters of compact stars such as their allowed radii and tidal deformabilities. We also investigate the influence of stiffness of matter before the onset of the phase transitions on the parameters of the possible exotic dense phase. The aim of our study is to compare the parameter space of the dense matter equation of state permitting phase transitions to a sub-space compatible with current observational constraints such as the maximum observable mass, tidal deformabilities of neutron star mergers, radii of configurations before the onset of the phase transition, and to give predictions for future observations. We studied solutions of the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations for a flexible set of parametric equations of state. We compare tidal deformabilities of stars with weak and strong phase transitions with the results of the GW170817 neutron star merger. Specifically, we study characteristic phase transition features in the $\Lambda_1-\Lambda_2$ relation, and estimate the deviations of our results from the approximate formul{\ae} for $\tilde{\Lambda}-R(M_1)$ and $\Lambda$-compactness proposed in the literature. We find constraints on the hybrid equations of state to produce stable neutron stars on the twin branch. For the exemplary equations of state most of the high-mass twins occur for the minimum values of the density jump $\lambda = 1.33-1.54$; corresponding values of the square of the speed of sound are $\alpha = 0.7-0.37$. We compare results with observations of gravitational waves and with the theoretical causal limit and find that the minimum radius of a twin branch is 9.5 - 10.5 km. For these solutions, the phase transition occurs below 0.56 [fm$^{-3}$].