Physics

Neutron star measurements put limits on color superconductivity in dense quark matter

Ground-based radio telescopes, gravitational wave detectors, and space-based X-ray telescopes (right) all measure neutron stars (top left, showing mergers) and pairings of differently colored quarks in dense matter (bottom left). ). ). Credit: Rachel Steinhorst, NASA/Roscosmos, California Institute of Technology/MIT/LIGO Lab

At very high densities, quarks are expected to form pairs, similar to electrons in superconductors. This behavior of dense quarks is called color superconductivity. Calculating the strength of the pairing inside a color superconductor is difficult, but scientists have long known that its strength is related to pressure in dense materials. Measuring the size of neutron stars and how they deform during mergers reveals their pressure, confirming that neutron stars are indeed the densest visible matter in the universe. can.

In a recent study, researchers used observations of neutron stars to infer the properties of even denser quark matter, which is certain to be a color superconductor. This provides the first empirical upper bound on the strength of color superconducting pairings.

The study is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Measurements from NICER, LIGO/Virgo, and ground-based radio telescopes provide insight into the pressure and density at the cores of various neutron stars, each with their own uncertainties. In this study, the researchers performed a statistical analysis of these measurements to extract the range of possible pressures at quark matter density.

The range of possible deviations from that baseline makes this The study’s researchers were able to obtain a range of pairing effects that are consistent with observations of neutron stars. This allowed the researchers to extract empirical limits on the strength of color superconducting pairings.

Theoretical physicists have been studying color superconductivity for more than 20 years. However, the link between this study and observations of neutron stars provides the first empirical limit on the pairing strength of collar superconductors. This opens a new research frontier for learning the physics of quark matter using the astrophysics of neutron stars.

Further information: Aleksi Kurkela et al, Astrophysical Equation-of-State Constraints on the Color-Superconducting Gap, Physical Review Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.262701

Provided by the U.S. Department of Energy

Citation: Neutron star measurements raise limits on color superconductivity in dense quark matter (January 14, 2025) https://phys.org/news/2025-01-neutron-star-limits-superconductivity- Retrieved January 14, 2025 from dense.html

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