Holographic baryons, dense matter and neutron star mergers

TL;DR

This paper explores the use of holographic V-QCD models to understand the phase transition from nuclear to quark matter and its implications for neutron star mergers, combining theoretical modeling with astrophysical simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a holographic V-QCD approach to model dense nuclear matter and predicts a first-order phase transition with a critical endpoint relevant for neutron star mergers.

Findings

Predicts a strongly first order phase transition from nuclear to quark matter.

Identifies a critical endpoint in the phase diagram.

Simulates neutron star mergers with quark matter formation.

Abstract

The gauge/gravity duality, combined with information from lattice QCD, nuclear theory, and perturbative QCD, can be used to constrain the equation of state of hot and dense QCD. I discuss an approach based on the holographic V-QCD model. I start by reviewing the results from the construction of the V-QCD baryon as a soliton of the gauge fields in the model. Then I discuss implementing nuclear matter in the model by using a homogeneous approach. The model predicts a strongly first order phase transition from nuclear to quark matter with a critical endpoint. By using the model in state-of-the-art simulations of neutron star binaries with parameters consistent with GW170817, I study the formation of quark matter during the merger process.