Hadron-quark mixed phase in the quark-meson coupling model

TL;DR

This paper investigates the formation of hadron-quark mixed phases with pasta structures inside neutron stars using the quark-meson coupling model, highlighting the effects of finite-size energies and the conditions for phase coexistence.

Contribution

It introduces a consistent approach combining the QMC model with the bag model to analyze hadron-quark pasta phases, emphasizing finite-size effects on the phase transition.

Findings

Finite-size effects reduce the mixed phase region.

Hadron-quark pasta phases form in massive stars.

No pure quark matter exists inside neutron stars.

Abstract

We explore the possibility of a structured hadron-quark mixed phase forming in the interior of neutron stars. The quark-meson coupling (QMC) model, which explicitly incorporates the internal quark structure of the nucleon, is employed to describe the hadronic phase, while the quark phase is described by the same bag model as the one used in the QMC framework, so as to keep consistency between the two coexisting phases. We analyze the effect of the appearance of hadron-quark pasta phases on the neutron-star properties. We also discuss the influence of nuclear symmetry energy and the bag constant B in quark matter on the deconfinement phase transition. For the treatment of the hadron-quark mixed phase, we use the energy minimization method and compare it with the Gibbs construction. The finite-size effects like surface and Coulomb energies are taken into account in the energy minimization method; they play crucial roles in determining the pasta configuration during the hadron-quark phase transition. It is found that the finite-size effects can significantly reduce the region of the mixed phase relative to that of the Gibbs construction. Using a consistent value of B in the QMC model and quark matter, we find that hadron-quark pasta phases are formed in the interior of massive stars, but no pure quark matter can exist.