Holographic Quark Matter and Neutron Stars
Carlos Hoyos1, Niko Jokela2, David Rodríguez Fernández1
1Department of Physics, Universidad de Oviedo, Avenida Calvo Sotelo 18, ES-33007 Oviedo, Spain.
Abstract:
We use a top-down holographic model for strongly interacting quark matter to study the properties of neutron stars. When the corresponding equation of state (EOS) is matched with state-of-the-art results for dense nuclear matter, we consistently observe a first-order phase transition at densities between 2 and 7 times the nuclear saturation density. Solving the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov equations with the resulting hybrid EOSs, we find maximal stellar masses in excess of two solar masses, albeit somewhat smaller than those obtained with simple extrapolations of the nuclear matter EOSs. Our calculation predicts that no quark matter exists inside neutron stars.
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