Sound in a Bubbly Hybrid Neutron Star

TL;DR

This paper investigates how quark matter bubbles inside neutron stars affect sound wave propagation, revealing nonlinear effects and resonance phenomena that could inform astrophysical observations.

Contribution

It introduces a model for sound propagation in neutron stars with quark matter bubbles, deriving the dispersion relation and analyzing nonlinear effects and resonances.

Findings

Small quark bubbles cause high nonlinearity in sound waves.

Sound speed varies significantly near bubble resonance.

Resonance peaks are limited by viscous dissipation.

Abstract

Increasingly precise astrophysical observations of the last decade in combination with intense theoretical studies allow for drawing a conclusion about potential Quark Matter presence in Neutron Stars interiors. Quark Matter may form the Neutron Star inner core or be immersed in the form of bubbles, or droplets. We consider the second scenario and demonstrate that even a small fraction of quark matter bubbles can lead to a high nonlinearity of the sound wave. Below the bubble resonant frequency the sound speed is lower than the ambient value. At the resonance it sharply grows. The peak is constrained by viscous dissipation. Above the resonance the speed exceeds the pure neutron star matter value. The dispersion equation for the bubbly neutron star compressibility is derived.