Hybrid stars with color superconducting cores in an extended FCM model

TL;DR

This paper models hybrid neutron stars with color superconducting quark cores using an extended FCM, exploring how phase transitions and conversion rates affect star stability and observable properties, constrained by recent astrophysical data.

Contribution

It introduces an extended FCM model incorporating color superconductivity and phase transition dynamics to study hybrid star structure and stability.

Findings

Slow quark-hadron conversion leads to a new stable star branch.

Hybrid stars with color superconducting cores can match observed massive pulsars.

Potential explanation for the high-mass GW190425 binary component.

Abstract

We investigate the influence of repulsive vector interactions and color superconductivity on the structure of neutron stars using an extended version of the field correlator method (FCM) for the description of quark matter. The hybrid equation of state is constructed using the Maxwell description, which assumes a sharp hadron-quark phase transition. The equation of state of hadronic matter is computed for a density-dependent relativistic lagrangian treated in the mean-field approximation, with parameters given by the SW4L nuclear model. This model described the interactions among baryons in terms of $\sigma, \omega, \rho, \sigma^*$, and $\phi$ mesons. Quark matter is assumed to be in either the CFL or the 2SC+s color superconducting phase. The possibility of sequential (hadron-quark, quark-quark) transitions in ultra-dense matter is investigated. Observed data related to massive pulsars, gravitational-wave events, and NICER are used to constrain the parameters of the extended FCM model. The successful equations of state are used to explore the mass-radius relationship, radii, and tidal deformabilities of hybrid stars. A special focus lies on investigating consequences that slow or fast conversions of quark-hadron matter have on the stability and the mass-radius relationship of hybrid stars. We find that if slow conversion should occur, a new branch of stable massive stars would exist whose members have radii that are up to 1.5~km smaller than those of conventional neutron stars of the same mass. Such objects could be possible candidates for the stellar high-mass object of the GW190425 binary system.