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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Effects of Quark Core Sizes of Baryons in Neutron Star Matter

We describe the quark substructure of hadrons and the equation of state of high-density neutron star matter by using the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model, which is an effective quark theory based on QCD. The interaction between quarks fully respects the chiral and flavor symmetries. Guided by the success of various low-energy theorems, we assume that the explicit breaking of these symmetries occurs only via the current quark masses, and all other symmetry breakings are of dynamical nature. In order to take into account the effects of the finite quark core sizes of the baryons on the equation of state, we make use of an excluded volume framework that respects thermodynamic consistency. The effects generated by the swelling quark cores generally act repulsively and lead to an increase in the pressure with increasing baryon density. On the other hand, in neutron star matter, these effects also lead to a decrease in the density window where hyperons appear because it becomes energetically more favorable to convert the faster moving nucleons into hyperons. Our quantitative analysis shows that the net effect of the excluded volume is too small to solve the long-standing “hyperon puzzle”, which is posed by the large observed masses of neutron stars. Thus, the puzzle persists in a relativistic effective quark theory which takes into account the short-range repulsion between baryons caused by their finite and swelling quark core sizes in a phenomenological way.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Simulating Neutron Stars with Solid Quark Cores: Rotations, Oscillations, and Binary Mergers [Slides]

Neutron stars feature complexity from GR, QM, particle physics and nuclear physics effects which cannot be investigated in the lab up to the densities in their core. GWs from binary neutron star mergers are on the rise to provide more insight into the physics inside NSs. There is a possibility that involves crystalline, color-superconducting quark matter, with implications towards altering the GW signal if NSs harbor this exotic matter. There are no 3D dynamical simulations of solid quark matter inside Neutron stars. We perform the first 3D dynamical simulations of solid quark matter inside NSs. These are performed in the Newtonian Approximation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Massive neutron stars with a color superconducting quark matter core

In this work, we construct the equation of state for high-density neutron star matter at zero temperature using the two-flavor Nambu–Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model as an effective theory of QCD. We build nuclear matter, quark matter, and the mixed phases from the same NJL Lagrangian, which has been used to model free and in-medium hadrons as well as nuclear systems. A focus here is to determine if the same coupling constants in the scalar diquark and vector meson channels, which give a good description of nucleon structure and nuclear matter, can also be used for the color superconducting high-density quark matter phase. We find that this is possible for the scalar diquark (pairing) interaction, but the vector meson interaction has to be reduced so that superconducting quark matter becomes the stable phase at high densities. We compare our equation of state with recent phenomenological parametrizations based on generic stability conditions for neutron stars. We find that the maximum mass of a hybrid star, with a color superconducting quark matter core, exceeds 2.01 ± 0.04 M⊙, which is the value of the recently observed massive neutron star PSR J0348+0432. The mass-radius relation is also consistent with gravitational wave observations (GW170817).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Evidence for quark-matter cores in massive neutron stars

The theory governing the strong nuclear force—quantum chromodynamics—predicts that at sufficiently high energy densities, hadronic nuclear matter undergoes a deconfinement transition to a new phase of quarks and gluons. Although this has been observed in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions, it is currently an open question whether quark matter exists inside neutron stars. By combining astrophysical observations and theoretical ab initio calculations in a model-independent way, we find that the inferred properties of matter in the cores of neutron stars with mass corresponding to 1.4 solar masses (M ⊙ ) are compatible with nuclear model calculations. However, the matter in the interior of maximally massive stable neutron stars exhibits characteristics of the deconfined phase, which we interpret as evidence for the presence of quark-matter cores. For the heaviest reliably observed neutron stars with mass M ≈ 2M ⊙ , the presence of quark matter is found to be linked to the behaviour of the speed of sound cs in strongly interacting matter. If the conformal bound ${c}_{\rm{s}}^{2}\le 1/3$ is not strongly violated, massive neutron stars are predicted to have sizable quark-matter cores. This finding has important implications for the phenomenology of neutron stars and affects the dynamics of neutron star mergers with at least one sufficiently massive participant.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Exclusive single pion electroproduction off the proton: Results from CLAS

Exclusive meson electroproduction off protons is a powerful tool to probe the effective degrees of freedom in excited nucleon states at the varying distance scale where the transition from the contributions of both quark core and meson-baryon cloud to the quark core dominance. During the past decade, the CLAS collaboration has executed a broad experimental program to study the excited states of the proton using polarized electron beam and both polarized and unpolarized proton targets. The measurements covered a broad kinematic range in the invariant mass $W$ and photon virtuality $Q^2$ with nearly full coverage in polar and azimuthal angles in the hadronic CM system. As results, several low-lying nucleon resonance states in particular from pion threshold to $W < 1.6$ GeV have been explored. These include $\Delta$(1232)$\frac{3}{2}^+$, $N(1440)\frac{1}{2}^+$, $N(1520)\frac{3}{2}^-$, and $N(1535)\frac{1}{2}^-$ states. In addition, we recently published the differential cross sections and helicity amplitudes of the reaction $\gamma^*p\to n\pi^+$ at higher $W$ (1.6 to 2.0 GeV) which are the $N(1675)\frac{5}{2}^-$, $N(1680)\frac{5}{2}^+$, and $N(1710)\frac{1}{2}^+$ states. These excited states with isospin $1/2$ and with masses near 1.7 GeV can be accessed in single $n\pi^+$ production as there are no isospin $3/2$ states present in this mass range with the same spin-parity assignments. As a result, I will briefly discuss these states from CLAS results of the single charged pion electroproduction data.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Treating quarks within neutron stars

Neutron star interiors provide the opportunity to probe properties of cold dense matter in the QCD phase diagram. Utilizing models of dense matter in accord with nuclear systematics at nuclear densities, we investigate the compatibility of deconfined quark cores with current observational constraints on the maximum mass and tidal deformability of neutron stars. Here we explore various methods of implementing the hadron-to-quark phase transition, specifically, first-order transitions with sharp (Maxwell construction) and soft (Gibbs construction) interfaces, and smooth crossover transitions. We find that within the models we apply, hadronic matter has to be stiff for a first-order phase transition and soft for a crossover transition. In both scenarios and for the equations of state we employed, quarks appear at the center of premerger neutron stars in the mass range ≈ 1.0 – 1.6 M ⊙ , with a squared speed of sound $c^2_{QM}$ ≳ 0.4 characteristic of strong repulsive interactions required to support the recently discovered neutron star masses ≥ 2 M ⊙ . We also identify equations of state and phase transition scenarios that are consistent with the bounds placed on tidal deformations of neutron stars in the recent binary merger event GW170817. We emphasize that distinguishing hybrid stars with quark cores from normal hadronic stars is very difficult from the knowledge of masses and radii alone, unless drastic sharp transitions induce distinctive disconnected hybrid branches in the mass-radius relation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

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.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Hybrid Star Models in the Light of New Multimessenger Data

Abstract Recent astrophysical mass inferences of compact stars HESS J1731-347 and PSR J0952-0607, with extremely small and large masses respectively, as well as the measurement of the neutron skin of Ca in the CREX experiment challenge and constrain the models of dense matter. We examine the concept of hybrid stars—objects containing quark cores surrounded by nucleonic envelopes—as models that account for these new data along with other inferences. We employ a family of 81 nucleonic equations of state (EOSs) with variable skewness and slope of symmetry energy at saturation density and a constant speed-of-sound EOS for quark matter. For each nucleonic EOS, a family of hybrid EOSs is generated by varying the transition density, the energy jump, and the speed of sound. These models are tested against the data from GW170817 and J1731-347, which favor low-density soft EOS and J0592-0607 and J0740+6620, which require high-density stiff EOS. The addition of J0592-0607's mass measurement to the constraints has no significant impact on the parameter space of the admissible EOS, but allows us to explore the potential effect of pulsars more massive than J0740+6620, if such exists. We then examine the occurrence of twin configurations and quantify the ranges of masses and radii that they can possess. It is shown that including J1731-347 data favors EOSs that predict low-mass twins with M ≲ 1.3 M ⊙ that can be realized if the deconfinement transition density is low. If combined with large speed of sound in quark matter such models allow for maximum masses of hybrid stars in 2.0–2.6 M ⊙ .

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2018

Structure of the nucleon’s low-lying excitations

Here, a continuum approach to the three valence-quark bound-state problem in quantum field theory is used to perform a comparative study of the four lightest ( I = 1/2, J P = 1/2 ± ) baryon isospin doublets in order to elucidate their structural similarities and differences. Such analyses predict the presence of nonpointlike, electromagnetically active quark-quark (diquark) correlations within all baryons; and in these doublets, isoscalar-scalar, isovector-pseudovector, isoscalar-pseudoscalar, and vector diquarks can all play a role. In the two lightest (1/2,1/2 + ) doublets, however, scalar and pseudovector diquarks are overwhelmingly dominant. The associated rest-frame wave functions are largely S-wave in nature; and the first excited state in this 1/2 + channel has the appearance of a radial excitation of the ground state. The two lightest (1/2,1/2 – ) doublets fit a different picture: accurate estimates of their masses are obtained by retaining only pseudovector diquarks; in their rest frames, the amplitudes describing their dressed-quark cores contain roughly equal fractions of even- and odd-parity diquarks; and the associated wave functions are predominantly P-wave in nature, but possess measurable S-wave components. Moreover, the first excited state in each negative-parity channel has little of the appearance of a radial excitation. In quantum field theory, all differences between positive- and negative-parity channels must owe to chiral symmetry breaking, which is overwhelmingly dynamical in the light-quark sector. Consequently, experiments that can validate the contrasts drawn herein between the structure of the four lightest (1/2,1/2 ± ) doublets will prove valuable in testing links between emergent mass generation and observable phenomena and, plausibly, thereby revealing dynamical features of confinement.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Colloquium: Roper resonance: Toward a solution to the fifty year puzzle

Discovered in 1963, the Roper resonance appears to be an exact copy of the proton except that its mass is 50% greater and it is unstable. These features of the Roper have been very difficult to explain so that for half a century this lightest excited state of the proton has defied understanding. The last decade has presented a new challenge, viz. precise information on the proton-to-Roper electroproduction transition form factors. Reaching to momentum transfer Q 2 ≈ 4.5 GeV 2 , the data probe a domain within which hard valence-quark degrees of freedom could be expected to determine form factor behavior. An explanation of the Roper should combine an understanding of all these things. This is a prodigious task, but a ten-year international collaborative effort, involving experimentalists and theorists, has presented a candidate solution to the puzzle. Namely, the observed Roper is at the heart of the proton’s first radial excitation, consisting of a dressed-quark core augmented by a meson cloud that reduces the core mass by approximately 20% and materially alters its electroproduction form factors on Q 2 < 2 m N 2 , where m N is the proton’s mass. This Colloquium describes the experimental developments which enabled electroproduction data to be procured within a domain that is the purview of strong quantum chromodynamics, thereby providing challenges and opportunities for modern theory, and surveys the developments in reaction models and QCD theory that have enabled this picture of the Roper resonance to be drawn.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Nucleon Resonance Transition Form factors

We discuss recent results from CLAS on electromagnetic resonance transition amplitudes and their dependence on the distance scale (Q2). From the comparison of these results with most advanced theoretical calculations within QCD-based approaches there is clear evidence that meson-baryon contributions are present and important at large distances, i.e. small Q2, and that quark core contributions dominate the short distance behavior.

Burkert, Volker D.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Progress report on a new search for free e/3 quarks in the cores of 10(15) - 10(16) eV air showers

The Leeds 3 sq m Wilson cloud chamber is being used in a new search for free e/3 quarks close to the axes of 10 to the 15th power - 10 to the 16th power eV air showers. A ratio trigger circuit is used to detect the incidence of air shower cores; the position of the shower center and the axis direction are determined from photographs of current-limited spark chambers. It is thus possible, for the first time, to know where we have looked for quarks in air showers and to select for scanning only those cloud chamber photographs where we have good evidence that the shower axis was close to the chamber. 250 g/sq cm of lead/concrete absorber above the cloud chamber serve to reduce particle densities and make a quark search possible very close to the shower axes. The current status of the search is given.

Hodson, A. L.↗
DOE OSTI2017

On the Stability of Strange Dwarf Hybrid Stars

We investigate the stability of “strange dwarfs”: white-dwarf-sized stars with a density discontinuity between a small dense core of quark matter and a thick low-density mantle of degenerate electrons. Previous work on strange dwarfs suggested that such a discontinuity could stabilize stars that would have been classified as unstable by the conventional criteria based on extrema in the mass–radius relation. We investigate the stability of such stars by numerically solving the Sturm–Liouville equations for the lowest-energy modes of the star. We find that the conventional criteria are correct, and strange dwarfs are not stable.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Detectability of neutrino-signal fluctuations induced by the hadron-quark phase transition in failing core-collapse supernovae

Here we introduce a systematic and quantitative methodology for establishing the presence of neutrino oscillatory signals due to the hadron-quark phase transition (PT) in failing core-collapse supernovae from the observed neutrino event rate in water- or ice-based neutrino detectors. The methodology uses a likelihood ratio in the frequency domain as a test-statistic; it is employed for quantitative analysis of neutrino signals without assuming the frequency, amplitude, starting time, and duration of the PT-induced oscillations present in the neutrino events and thus it is suitable for analyzing neutrino signals from a wide variety of numerical simulations. We test the validity of this method by using a core-collapse simulation of a 17 solar-mass star by Zha et al. [Astrophys. J. 911, 74 (2021) ]. Based on this model, we further report the presence of a PT-induced oscillations quantitatively for a core-collapse supernovae out to a distance of ~10 kpc, ~5 kpc for IceCube and to a distance of ~10 kpc, ~5 kpc, and ~1 kpc for a 0.4 Mt mass water Cherenkov detector. This methodology will aid the investigation of a future galactic supernova and the study of hadron-quark phase in the core of core-collapse supernovae.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2018

N* Experiments and Their Impact on Strong QCD Physics

Here, I give a brief overview of experimental studies of the spectrum and the structure of the excited states of the nucleon and what we learn about their internal structure. The focus is on the effort to obtain a more complete picture of the light-quark baryon excitation spectrum employing electromagnetic beams, and on the study of the transition form factors and helicity amplitudes and their dependence on the size of the four-momentum transfer $Q^2$, especially on some of the most prominent resonances. These were obtained in pion and eta electroproduction experiments off proton targets.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Higgs-confinement transitions in QCD from symmetry protected topological phases

In gauge theories with fundamental matter there is typically no sharp way to distinguish confining and Higgs regimes, e.g. using generalized global symmetries acting on loop order parameters. It is standard lore that these two regimes are continuously connected, as has been explicitly demonstrated in certain lattice and continuum models. We point out that Higgsing and confinement sometimes lead to distinct symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases -- necessarily separated by a phase transition -- for ordinary global symmetries. We present explicit examples in 3+1 dimensions, obtained by adding elementary Higgs fields and Yukawa couplings to QCD while preserving parity P and time reversal T. In a suitable scheme, the confining phases of these theories are trivial SPTs, while their Higgs phases are characterized by non-trivial P- and T-invariant theta-angles θ f , θ g = π for flavor or gravity background gauge fields, i.e. they are topological insulators or superconductors. Finally, we consider conventional three-flavor QCD (without elementary Higgs fields) at finite U(1) B baryon-number chemical potential μ B , which preserves P and T. At very large μ B , three-flavor QCD is known to be a completely Higgsed color superconductor that also spontaneously breaks U(1) B . We argue that this high-density phase is in fact a gapless SPT, with a gravitational theta-angle θ g = π that safely co-exists with the U(1) B Nambu-Goldstone boson. We explain why this SPT motivates unexpected transitions in the QCD phase diagram, as well as anomalous surface modes at the boundary of quark-matter cores inside neutron stars.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

N* Experiments and Their Impact on Strong QCD Physics

Here, I give a brief overview of experimental studies of the spectrum and the structure of the excited states of the nucleon and what we learn about their internal structure. The focus is on the effort to obtain a more complete picture of the light-quark baryon excitation spectrum employing electromagnetic beams, and on the study of the transition form factors and helicity amplitudes and their dependence on the size of the four-momentum transfer $Q^2$, especially on some of the most prominent resonances. These were obtained in pion and eta electroproduction experiments off proton targets.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗