APT4 - Spectral and Timing Appearances of the Galactic and Extragalatic Black Holes |
Speaker_ |
Bombaci, Ignazio |
Talk _ |
Quark matter in compact stars: astrophysical implications and possible signatures |
Abstract _ |
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. |