MG11 
Talk detail
 

 Participant 

Institution

Session

Talk

Abstract

Quark matter in compact stars: astrophysical implications and possible signatures

We study the consequences of the hadron-quark deconfinement phase transition in stellar compact objects when finite size effects between the deconfined quark phase and the hadronic phase are taken into account. We show that above a threshold value of the central pressure (gravitational mass) a neutron star is metastable to the decay (conversion) to a hybrid neutron star or to a strange star. The "mean-life time" of the metastable configuration dramatically depends on the value of the stellar central pressure. We explore the consequences of the metastability of ``massive'' neutron stars and of the existence of stable compact ``quark'' stars (hybrid neutron stars or strange stars) on the concept of limiting mass of compact stars. Finally, we discuss some signatures for the possible existence of strange stars.