Reverse phase transitions in binary neutron-star systems with exotic-matter cores
Multimessenger observations of binary neutron-star mergers provide a unique opportunity to constrain the dense-matter equation of state. Although it is known from quantum chromodynamics that hadronic matter will undergo a phase transition to exotic forms of matter—e.g., quark matter—the onset density of such a phase transition cannot be computed from first principles. Hence, it remains an open question if such phase transitions occur inside isolated neutron stars or during binary neutron-star mergers, or if they appear at even higher densities that are not realized in the cosmos. Here, in this article, we perform numerical relativity simulations of neutron-star mergers and investigate scenarios in which the onset density of such a phase transition is exceeded in at least one inspiraling binary component. Our simulations reveal that shortly before the merger, it is possible that such stars undergo a “reverse phase transition”—i.e., densities decrease and the quark core inside the star disappears, leaving a purely hadronic star at merger. After the merger, when densities increase once more, the phase transition occurs again and leads, in the cases considered in this work, to the rapid formation of a black hole. We compute the gravitational-wave signal and the mass ejection for our simulations of such scenarios and find clear signatures that are related to the postmerger phase transition—e.g., smaller ejecta masses due to the softening of the equation of state through the quark core formation. Unfortunately, we do not find measurable imprints of the reverse phase transition.