Properties of High-Density Matter in Neutron Stars

Abstract

This short review aims at giving a brief overview of the various states of matter that have been suggested to exist in the ultra-dense centers of neutron stars. Particular emphasis is put on the role of quark deconfinement in neutron stars and on the possible existence of compact stars made of absolutely stable strange quark matter (strange stars). Astrophysical phenomena, which distinguish neutron stars from quark stars, are discussed and the question of whether or not quark deconfinement may occur in neutron stars is investigated. Combined with observed astrophysical data, such studies are invaluable to delineate the complex structure of compressed baryonic matter and to put firm constraints on the largely unknown equation of state of such matter.

9 pages, 7 figures. Published as a Brief Review in MPLA

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Pair production from the vacuum by a weakly inhomogeneous space-dependent electric potential step
• Neutron Skins: Weak Elastic Scattering and Neutron Stars
• States of charged quantum fields and their statistical properties in the presence of critical potential steps
• Two-flavor hybrid stars with the Dyson-Schwinger quark model