Deconfinement transition in rotating compact stars

TL;DR

This paper develops a perturbation theory for rotating compact stars in general relativity, exploring how rotation influences their internal structure and signals of deconfinement phase transitions, with potential observational implications in pulsar timing.

Contribution

It introduces a perturbation framework for rotating stars and investigates the impact of deconfinement phase transitions on observable properties like the moment of inertia and braking index.

Findings

Quark matter cores can form during neutron star spin-down, affecting pulsar timing signals.

Deviations in the braking index from n=3 may indicate the presence and size of quark cores.

Mass accretion can induce a spin-up transition signaling deconfinement in the star's interior.

Abstract

Using the formalism of general relativity for axially symmetric gravitational fields and their sources - rotating compact stars - a perturbation theory with respect to angular velocity is developed and physical quantities such as mass, shape, momentum of inertia and total energy of the star are defined. The change of the internal structure of the star due to rotation has been investigated and the different contributions to the moment of inertia have been evaluated separately. Numerical solutions have been performed using a two-flavor model equation of state describing the deconfinement phase transition as constrained by the conservation of total baryon number and electric charge. During the spin down evolution of the rotating neutron star, below critical values of angular velocity a quark matter core can appear which might be detected as a characteristic signal in the pulsar timing. Within the spin-down scenario due to magnetic dipole radiation it is shown that the deviation of the braking index from $n=3$ could signal not only the occurrence but also the size of a quark core in the pulsar. A new scenario is proposed where, due to mass accretion onto the rapidly rotating compact star, a spin-down to spin-up transition might signal a deconfinement transition in its interior.