Differentiating between sharp and smoother phase transitions in neutron stars
arXiv:2201.01217 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.105.123015
Abstract
The internal composition of neutron stars is still an open issue in astrophysics. Their innermost regions are impervious to light propagation and gravitational waves mostly carry global aspects of stars, meaning that only indirect inferences of their interiors could be obtained. Here we assume a hypothetical future scenario in which an equation of state softening due to a phase transition is identified and estimate the observational accuracy to differentiate a sharp phase transition from a smoother one (associated with a mixed phase/state due to the unknown value of the surface tension of dense matter) in a region of a hybrid star by means of some electromagnetic and gravitational wave observables. We show that different transition constructions lead to similar sequences of stellar configurations due to their shared thermodynamic properties. In the most optimistic case - a strong quark-hadron density jump phase transition - radius observations require fractional uncertainties smaller than to differentiate mixed states from sharp phase transitions. For tidal deformabilities, relative uncertainties should be smaller than . However, for masses around the onset of stable quark cores, relative tidal deformability differences associated with strong sharp phase transitions and mixed states could be much larger (up to around ). All the above suggests that 2.5- and 3rd generation gravitational wave detectors and near-term electromagnetic missions may be able to start assessing some particular aspects of phase transitions in neutron stars. In addition, it points to some limitations on the equation of state recovery using typical neutron star observables and the impact of systematic uncertainties on modellings of the equation of state of hybrid stars. Finally, we briefly discuss other observables that may also be relevant for the probe of mixed states in stars.
arXiv comment17 pages, 15 figures (some updated); Improved abstract, presentation and discussions (assumptions, phase transitions, EOS recovery, predictions, etc); New references added; Accepted for publication in PRD
References in corpus (67)
- GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
- Advanced Virgo: a 2nd generation interferometric gravitational wave detector
- Gravitational Waves and Gamma-rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A
- Advanced LIGO
- PSR J0030+0451 Mass and Radius from NICER Data and Implications for the Properties of Neutron Star Matter
- A NICER View of PSR J0030+0451: Millisecond Pulsar Parameter Estimation
- Color superconductivity in dense quark matter
- Tidal Love numbers of neutron stars
- A unified equation of state of dense matter and neutron star structure
- Properties of the binary neutron star merger GW170817
- Constraining neutron star tidal Love numbers with gravitational wave detectors
- Science Case for the Einstein Telescope
- A NICER View of the Massive Pulsar PSR J0740+6620 Informed by Radio Timing and XMM-Newton Spectroscopy
- Tidal deformability of neutron stars with realistic equations of state and their gravitational wave signatures in binary inspiral
- The phase diagram of dense QCD
- Relativistic tidal properties of neutron stars
- From hadrons to quarks in neutron stars: a review
- Hybrid stars that masquerade as neutron stars
- Evidence for quark-matter cores in massive neutron stars
- KAGRA: 2.5 Generation Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detector
- Implications of PREX-II on the equation of state of neutron-rich matter
- Identifying a first-order phase transition in neutron star mergers through gravitational waves
- Challenges in QCD matter physics - The Compressed Baryonic Matter experiment at FAIR
- Nonparametric constraints on neutron star matter with existing and upcoming gravitational wave and pulsar observations
- Neutron star tidal deformability and equation of state constraints
- Evidence for a maximum mass cut-off in the neutron star mass distribution and constraints on the equation of state
- Maximum elastic deformations of compact stars with exotic equations of state
- Neutron Star Extreme Matter Observatory: A kilohertz-band gravitational-wave detector in the global network
- Nonparametric Inference of Neutron Star Composition, Equation of State, and Maximum Mass with GW170817
- Lattice QCD and heavy ion collisions: a review of recent progress
- Compact stars with sequential QCD phase transitions
- New Neutron Star Equation of State with Quark-Hadron Crossover
- Constraining twin stars with GW170817
- eXTP -- enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry Mission
- Hadron-Quark Crossover and Massive Hybrid Stars
- Dense matter with eXTP
- Phase transition effects on the dynamical stability of hybrid neutron stars
- Gravitational-wave constraints on the equatorial ellipticity of millisecond pulsars
- Constraining the onset density of the hadron-quark phase transition with gravitational-wave observations
- High-mass twin stars with a multi-polytrope EoS
- Studying strong phase transitions in neutron stars with gravitational waves
- Was GW170817 a canonical neutron star merger? Bayesian analysis with a third family of compact stars
- Equation of state constraints from nuclear physics, neutron star masses, and future moment of inertia measurements
- Hybrid equation of state with pasta phases and third family of compact stars
- Twin stars and the stiffness of the nuclear equation of state: ruling out strong phase transitions below with the new NICER radius measurements
- Phase transitions in neutron stars and their links to gravitational waves
- Constraints on the maximum mass of neutron stars with a quark core from GW170817 and NICER PSR J0030+0451 data
- Bayesian inference of dense matter EOS encapsulating a first-order hadron-quark phase transition from observables of canonical neutron stars
- Search for continuous gravitational waves from 20 accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars in O3 LIGO data
- Tidal deformability and other global parameters of compact stars with strong phase transitions
- Uncertainty limits on neutron star radius measurements with gravitational waves
- Phase transitions in rotating neutron stars cores: back bending, stability, corequakes and pulsar timing
- Impact of high-order tidal terms on binary neutron-star waveforms
- Robustness of third family solutions for hybrid stars against mixed phase effects
- Neutron star structure from QCD
- Tidal deformations of neutron stars with elastic crusts
- Tidal deformations of neutron stars: The role of stratification and elasticity
- Upper limit set by causality on the tidal deformability of a neutron star
- Tidal deformations of hybrid stars with sharp phase transitions and elastic crusts
- Two novel approaches to the hadron-quark mixed phase in compact stars
- Results from high-frequency all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from small-ellipticity sources
- The Radius of PSR J0740+6620 from NICER and XMM-Newton Data
- Constraint on phase transition with the multimessenger data of neutron stars
- Parameter estimation for strong phase transitions in supranuclear matter using gravitational-wave astronomy
- Probing elastic quark phases in hybrid stars with radius measurements
- Phase Transitions in Neutron Stars
- Strong first-order phase transition in a rotating neutron star core and the associated energy release