Evidence for quark-matter cores in massive neutron stars

Abstract The theory governing the strong nuclear force—quantum chromodynamics—predicts that at sufficiently high energy densities, hadronic nuclear matter undergoes a deconfinement transition to a new phase of quarks and gluons 1 . Although this has been observed in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions 2,3 , it is currently an open question whether quark matter exists inside neutron stars 4 . By combining astrophysical observations and theoretical ab initio calculations in a model-independent way, we find that the inferred properties of matter in the cores of neutron stars with mass corresponding to 1.4 solar masses ( M ⊙ ) are compatible with nuclear model calculations. However, the matter in the interior…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Award: DE-SC0007984
• AO
  Academy of Finland

  Award: 1322507
• SK
  Suomen Kulttuurirahasto