Related papers: Cosmic Separation of Phases: the microsecond unive…
The cosmic first order phase transition from quarks to hadrons, occurring a few microseconds after the Big Bang, would lead to the formation of quark nuggets which would be stable on a cosmological time scale, if the associated baryon…
A crossover QCD phase transition in the early Universe, involving a formation scenario of stable strangeon nuggets is studied. The Polyakov-Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model is applied to calculate the thermodynamics of the QCD phase with u, d, s…
We study the dynamics of first-order phase transition in the early Universe when it was $10-50 \mu s$ old with quarks and gluons condensing into hadrons. We look at how the Universe evolved through the phase transition in small as well as…
At very large densities and/or temperatures a quark-hadron phase transition is expected to take place. Simulations of QCD on lattice at zero baryon density indicate that the transition occurs at $T_c \sim 150-170$ MeV. The calculations…
It is entirely plausible that during the primordial quark-hadron transition, microseconds after the Big Bang, the universe may experience supercooling accompanied by mini inflation leading to a first-order phase transition from quarks to…
The recent discovery of the two-solar mass neutron stars $J1614-2230~(1.97 \pm 0.04 M_{\odot})$ and $J0348+0432~(2.01 \pm 0.04 M_{\odot})$ allows to consider the possible existence of deconfined quarks in the cores of neutron stars. Based…
The interiors of neutron stars enjoy ideal conditions for the conversion of hadrons to a strange quark phase, theorized to be the stablest form of matter. Though numerous astrophysical means to prompt such a deconfinement phase transition…
Neutron stars were first posited in the early thirties, and discovered as pulsars in late sixties; however, only recently are we beginning to understand the matter they contain. This talk describes the continuing development of a consistent…
There are at least three sources of cosmic quarks in the universe. One, the quark nuggets which may survive beyond a certain baryon number during the phase transition from quarks to hadrons microseconds after the big bang. These quark…
Neutron star interiors provide the opportunity to probe properties of cold dense matter in the QCD phase diagram. Utilizing models of dense matter in accord with nuclear systematics at nuclear densities, we investigate the compatibility of…
A phase of strong interacting matter with deconfined quarks is expected in the core of massive neutron stars. We investigate the quark deconfinement phase transition in cold (T = 0) and hot beta-stable hadronic matter. Assuming a first…
We investigate the hadron-quark phase transition in cold neutron stars in light of (i) the observed limits on the maximum-mass of heavy pulsars, (ii) constraints on the tidal properties inferred from the gravitational waves emitted in…
The abundance and size distribution of quark nuggets (QN), formed a few microseconds after the big bang due to first order QCD phase transition in the early universe, has been estimated. It appears that stable QNs could be a viable…
We discuss cold dense QCD by examining constraints from neutron stars, nuclear experiments, and QCD calculations at low and high baryon density. The two solar mass constraint and suggestive small radii (10~13 km) of neutron stars constrain…
The question of whether quark matter exists in neutron stars is a long standing one. Generally one finds that a first order phase transition from baryons to quarks softens the equation of state so much that the star would collapse into a…
The properties of dense QCD matter are delineated through the construction of equations of state which should be consistent with the low and high density limits of QCD, nuclear laboratory experiments, and the neutron star observations.…
Using a nonlocal extension of the SU(3) Nambu-Jona Lasinio model, which reproduces several of the key features of Quantum Chromodynamics, we show that mixed phases of deconfined quarks and confined hadrons (quark-hybrid matter) may exist in…
The recent precise measurement of the mass of pulsar PSR J1614$-$2230, as well as observational indications of even more massive neutron stars, has revived the question of the composition of matter at the high densities prevailing inside…
Quark matter with only $u$ and $d$ quarks ($ud$QM) might be the ground state of baryonic matter at large baryon number $A>A_{\rm min}$. With $A_{\rm min}\gtrsim 300$, this has no direct conflict with the stability of ordinary nuclei. An…
After a brief history of neutron stars and supernovae recent developments are discussed. Based on modern nucleon-nucleon potentials more reliable equations of state for dense nuclear matter have been constructed. Furthermore, phase…