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Quarkyonic matter and hadron-quark crossover from an ultracold atom perspective

Hiroyuki Tajima, Kei Iida, Toru Kojo, Haozhao Liang

Abstract

The dense matter equation of state is of great interest due to the recent development of astrophysical observations for neutron stars. A rapid increase in pressure indicates a continuous crossover from a hadron phase to a quark phase without any phase transitions, yet its microscopic mechanism remains elusive. Recently, a peak in the speed of sound and a baryon momentum-shell structure, which are predicted from a quarkyonic matter picture, have been regarded as key features of the hadron-quark crossover. In this work, we explore a field-theoretical framework to describe the hadron-quark crossover, drawing an analogy with the Bose-Einstein condensate to Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BEC-BCS) crossover established in ultracold atomic experiments. Strikingly, a peak in the speed of sound and the baryon momentum-shell structure can simultaneously be explained by the tripling fluctuation effect arising from a different context of quantum many-body physics. We demonstrate these properties in a simplified model and provide a microscopic derivation of the quarkyonic matter model within our field-theoretical framework.

Quarkyonic matter and hadron-quark crossover from an ultracold atom perspective

Abstract

The dense matter equation of state is of great interest due to the recent development of astrophysical observations for neutron stars. A rapid increase in pressure indicates a continuous crossover from a hadron phase to a quark phase without any phase transitions, yet its microscopic mechanism remains elusive. Recently, a peak in the speed of sound and a baryon momentum-shell structure, which are predicted from a quarkyonic matter picture, have been regarded as key features of the hadron-quark crossover. In this work, we explore a field-theoretical framework to describe the hadron-quark crossover, drawing an analogy with the Bose-Einstein condensate to Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BEC-BCS) crossover established in ultracold atomic experiments. Strikingly, a peak in the speed of sound and the baryon momentum-shell structure can simultaneously be explained by the tripling fluctuation effect arising from a different context of quantum many-body physics. We demonstrate these properties in a simplified model and provide a microscopic derivation of the quarkyonic matter model within our field-theoretical framework.
Paper Structure (6 sections, 29 equations, 2 figures)

This paper contains 6 sections, 29 equations, 2 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Field-theoretical approach to tripling fluctuations
  3. Demonstration of tripling fluctuation effects in a simplified model
  4. 1D non-relativistic model
  5. Microscopic description of 3D relativistic quarkyonic matter
  6. Summary

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Calculated momentum distributions of (a) quark-like fermions $f_{\rm Q}(k)$ and (b) baryon-like trimers $f_{\rm B}(K)$ at several $\mu/T$, where $k_{\rm F}=\sqrt{2m\mu}$ is the Fermi momentum. The temperature is fixed at $T=0.1\mathcal{B}$.
  • Figure 2: Isothermal speed of sound $c_{\rm s}$ normalized by the Fermi velocity $v_{\rm F}=k_{\rm F}/m$. The temperature is taken as $T=0.125\mathcal{B}$.