https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-006-0064-y
Regular Article – Theoretical Physics
Quark stars: features and findings
Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL, 60439, USA
* e-mail: jaikumar@phy.anl.gov
Received:
4
August
2006
Published online:
25
October
2006
Under extreme conditions of temperature and/or density, quarks and gluons are expected to undergo a deconfinement phase transition. While this is an ephemeral phenomenon at the ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collider (BNL-RHIC), quark matter may exist naturally in the dense interior of neutron stars. Here, we present an appraisal of the possible phase structure of dense quark matter inside neutron stars, and the likelihood of its existence given the current status of neutron star observations. We conclude that quark matter inside neutron stars cannot be dismissed as a possibility, although recent observational evidence rules out most soft equations of state.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2007
