Narrow Results

This short review aims at giving a brief overview of 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.

The objective of this paper is to find out the suitability of an ansatz similar to that suggested by Vaidya–Tikekar, but prescribing paraboloidal geometry for the 3-space of the interior space–time of a relativistic spherical star in describing a family of physically viable models of superdense stars like Her X-1, SAX, and X-ray brust.

This paper provides a short overview of the multifaceted, possible role of quark matter for compact stars (neutron stars and strange quark matter stars). We began with a variational investigation of the maximum possible energy densities in the cores of neutron stars. This is followed by a brief discussion of the possible existence of quark matter in the cores of neutron stars and how such matter could manifest itself in neutron star observables. The possible presence of color superconducting strange quark matter nuggets in the crusts of neutron stars is reviewed next, and their impact on the pycnonuclear reaction rates in the crusts of neutron stars is discussed. The second part of the paper discusses the impact of ultra-strong electric fields on the bulk properties of strange quark matter stars and presents results of a preliminary study that models the thermal evolution of radio-quiet, X-ray bright, central compact objects (CCOs).

In this work, we investigate the effect of color superconductivity in adiabatic radial oscillations of stars consisting of quark matter. We calculate the equilibrium configurations by integrating the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff equations of relativistic stellar structure and then we integrate the equations of relativistic radial oscillations to determine the oscillation modes.

We construct and compare in this work a variety of simple models for strange stars, namely, hypothetical self-bound objects made of a cold stable version of the quark-gluon plasma. Exact, quasi-exact and numerical models are examined to find the most economical description for these objects. A simple and successful parametrization of them is given in terms of the central density, and the differences among the models are explicitly shown and discussed. In particular, we present a model starting with a Gaussian ansatz for the density profile that provides a very accurate and almost complete analytical integration of the problem, modulo a small difference for one of the metric potentials.

In this paper, we present a strange stellar model using Tolman $V$-type metric potential employing simplest form of the MIT bag equation of state (EOS) for the quark matter. We consider that the stellar system is spherically symmetric, compact and made of an anisotropic fluid. Choosing different values of $n$ we obtain exact solutions of the Einstein field equations and finally conclude that for a specific value of the parameter $n=1/2$, we find physically acceptable features of the stellar object. Further, we conduct different physical tests, viz., the energy condition, generalized Tolman–Oppeheimer–Volkoff (TOV) equation, Herrera’s cracking concept, etc., to confirm the physical validity of the presented model. Matching conditions provide expressions for different constants whereas maximization of the anisotropy parameter provides bag constant. By using the observed data of several compact stars, we derive exact values of some of the physical parameters and exhibit their features in tabular form. It is to note that our predicted value of the bag constant satisfies the report of CERN-SPS and RHIC.

We provide a strange star model under the framework of general relativity by using a general linear equation of state (EOS). The solution set thus obtained is employed on altogether 20 compact star candidates to constraint values of MIT bag model. No specific value of the bag constant ($B$) a priori is assumed, rather possible range of values for bag constant is determined from observational data of the said set of compact stars. To do so, the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff (TOV) equation is solved by homotopy perturbation method (HPM) and hence we get a mass function for the stellar system. The solution to the Einstein field equations represents a nonsingular, causal and stable stellar structure which can be related to strange stars. Eventually, we get an interesting result on the range of the bag constant as $41.58\mathrm{\text{MeV}}{\mathrm{\text{fm}}}^{-3}<B<319.31\mathrm{\text{MeV}}{\mathrm{\text{fm}}}^{-3}$. We have found the maximum surface redshift $Z_s^{max}=0.63$ and shown that the central redshift ($Z_c$) cannot have value larger than $2k$, where $k=2.010789\pm 0.073203$. Also, we provide a possible value of bag constant for neutron star with quark core using hadronic as well as quark EOS.

In this paper, we report on a study of the anisotropic strange stars under Finsler geometry. Keeping in mind that Finsler spacetime is not merely a generalization of Riemannian geometry rather the main idea is the projectivized tangent bundle of the manifold $𝕄$, we have developed the respective field equations. Thereafter, we consider the strange quark distribution inside the stellar system followed by the MIT bag model equation-of-state (EoS). To find out the stability and also the physical acceptability of the stellar configuration, we perform in detail some basic physical tests of the proposed model. The results of the testing show that the system is consistent with the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff (TOV) equation, Herrera cracking concept, different energy conditions and adiabatic index. One important result that we observe is, the anisotropic stress reaches the maximum at the surface of the stellar configuration. We calculate (i) the maximum mass as well as the corresponding radius, (ii) the central density of the strange stars for finite values of bag constant $B_g$ and (iii) the fractional binding energy of the system. This study shows that Finsler geometry is especially suitable to explain massive stellar systems.

The search for the true ground state of the dense matter remains open since Bodmer, Terazawa and others raised the possibility of stable quark matter, boosted by Witten’s strange matter hypothesis in 1984. Within this proposal, the strange matter is assumed to be composed of $strange$ quarks in addition to the usual $up$s and $down$s, having an energy per baryon lower than the strangeless counterpart, and even lower than that of nuclear matter. In this sense, neutron stars should actually be strange stars. Later work showed that a paired, symmetric in flavor, color-flavor locked (CFL) state would be preferred to the one without any pairing for a wide range of the parameters (gap $\mathrm{\Delta }$, strange quark mass $m_s$ and bag constant B). We use an approximate, yet very accurate, CFL equation-of-state (EoS) that generalizes the MIT bag model to obtain two families of exact solutions for the static Einstein Field Equations (EFE) constructing families of anisotropic compact relativistic objects. In this fashion, we provide exact useful solutions directly connected with microphysics.

For the accurate understanding of compact astrophysical objects, the Tolmann–Oppenheimer–Volkoff (TOV) equation has proved to be of great use. Nowadays, it has been derived in many alternative gravity theories, yielding the prediction of different macroscopic features for such compact objects. In this work, we apply the TOV equation of the energy–momentum–conserved version of the $f(R,T)$ gravity theory to strange quark stars. The $f(R,T)$ theory, with $f(R,T)$ being a generic function of the Ricci scalar $R$ and trace of the energy–momentum tensor $T$ to replace $R$ in the Einstein–Hilbert gravitational action, has shown to provide a very interesting alternative to the cosmological constant $\mathrm{\Lambda }$ in a cosmological scenario, particularly in the energy–momentum conserved case (a general $f(R,T)$ function does not conserve the energy–momentum tensor). Here, we impose the condition ${\nabla }^{\mu }{T}_{\mu \nu }=0$ to the astrophysical case, particularly the hydrostatic equilibrium of strange stars. We solve the TOV equation by taking into account linear equations of state to describe matter inside strange stars, such as $p=\omega \rho$ and $p=\omega (\rho -4B)$, known as the MIT bag model, with $p$ the pressure and $\rho$ the energy density of the star, $\omega$ constant and $B$ the bag constant.

In the present investigation, compact stellar models are dealt with in the framework of the modified gravity theory, specifically of $f(𝕋,{𝒯})$ type. We have considered that the compact objects are following a spherically symmetric static metric and obtained the Einstein field equations in the spacetime of $f(𝕋,{𝒯})$. To make the Einstein equations solvable, we employ the methodology of conformal Killing vectors. Thereafter by using the MIT bag equation of state to the compact stars, considering that the stars are formed by strange quark, we find the solutions set. The solutions are examined via several physical testings which exhibit viability of the model.

The detection of an unexpected $\sim 2.5M_{\odot }$ component in the gravitational wave event GW190814 has puzzled the community of high-energy astrophysicists, since in the absence of further information it is not clear whether this is the heaviest “neutron star” ever detected or either the lightest black hole known, of a kind absent in the local neighborhood. We show in this work a few possibilities for a model of the former, in the framework of three different quark matter models with and without anisotropy in the interior pressure. As representatives of classes of “exotic” solutions, we show that even though the stellar sequences may reach this ballpark, it is difficult to fulfill simultaneously the constraint of the radius as measured by the NICER team for the pulsar PSR J0030+0451. Thus, and assuming both measurements stand, compact neutron stars cannot be all made of self-bound quark matter, even within anisotropic solutions which boost the maximum mass well above the $\sim 2.5M_{\odot }$ figure. We also point out that a very massive compact star will limit the absolute maximum matter density in the present universe to be less than 6 times the nuclear saturation value.

A new quark star model for a charged anisotropic stellar object is generated using the Einstein–Maxwell field equations. We use a metric function, linear equation of state, and a new measure of anisotropy in form of logarithmic function to formulate the model. For particular choices of parameters in the anisotropic measure, some anisotropic and isotropic models are regained as a special case. Physical analysis indicates that matter variables and gravitational potentials in the model are well behaved. The generated model satisfies the energy, regularity, causality, and stability conditions. The speed of sound is consistent with quark stars.

The aim of this paper is to study the charged anisotropic strange stars in the Rastall framework. Basic formulation of field equations in this framework is presented in the presence of charged anisotropic source. To obtain the solutions of the Rastall field equations in spherically symmetric Karori and Barua (KB) type space-time, we have considered a linear equation of state of strange matter, using the MIT bag model. The constraints on the Rastall dimensionless parameter $\gamma$ are also discussed to obtain the physically reasonable solution. We explore some physical features of the presented model like energy conditions, stability and hydrostatic equilibrium, which are necessary to check the physical viability of the model. We also sought for the influence of the Rastall dimensionless parameter on the behavior of the physical features of obtained solution. We plot the graphs of matter variables for different chosen values of the parameter $\gamma$ to inspect more details of analytical investigations and predict the numerical values of these variables exhibited in the tabular form. For this analysis, we choose four different arbitrary models of strange stars with compactness $u(=\frac{M}{R})$ 0.25, 0.30, 0.35 and 0.40. We observed that all the necessary physical conditions are satisfied and the presented model is quite reasonable to study the strange stars.

The realistic compact star models are considered in $f(R)$ gravity. The main result is that simple modified gravity can be consistent with current observational mass limit of neutron stars, with current data on their masses and radii; also, it simplifies solution of the hyperon problem. The effect of strong magnetic field in $R^2$-gravity is also investigated. The existence of more compact (in comparison with General Relativity) stars with large magnetic fields in central regions is possible. In fact the second branch of stability appears.

The possible existence of deconfined matter in the cores of neutron stars has been studied for over three decades without a firm indication either for or against this proposition. Analysis mostly rely on the comparison of mass-radius curves obtained for different compositions with observational data on the mass of the most massive objects of this kind accurately determined. Nevertheless, there are other possibilities for indirectly studying the internal composition of this class of compact objects, e.g, analyzing cooling behavior, X-ray bursts, supernova’s neutrinos. We present calculations on the expected nucleosynthesis spectra for the strange star-strange star merger scenario as means to test the strange quark matter hypothesis and its realization inside such objects. This would result very different from the typical r-process nucleosynthesis expected in neutron star mergers since the high temperature deconfinement of strange matter would produce large amounts of neutrons and protons and the mass buildup would proceed in a Big-Bang nucleosynthesis like scenario. The neutron to proton ratio would allow to reach the iron peak only, a very different prediction from the standard scenario. The resultant light curve indicate it may be compatible with that of a kilonova depending on the specific details of the ejecta.

On application of a newly obtained quark mass scaling which contains both confinement and perturbative interactions, we study the structure of strange stars. We find that the equation of state becomes stiffer when the perturbative interactions are dominant at higher density, and, correspondingly, the maximum mass of strange stars is as large as two times the solar mass if strange quark matter is absolutely stable or metastable.

The magnetized color flavor locked matter phase can be more stable than the unpaired phase, thus becoming the ground state inside neutron stars. In the presence of a strong magnetic field, there exist an anisotropy in the pressures. We estimate the mass-radius relation of magnetized compact stars taking into account the parallel and perpendicular (to the magnetic field) pressure components.