Ultra-compact neutron stars; where observations confront general relativity and quantum field theory

TYPEAstrophysics Seminar
Speaker:Prof. Ahmad Hujeirat
Affiliation:Heidelberg University
Date:22.06.2016
Time:14:30 - 15:30
Location:Lidow 620
Abstract:Astronomical observations reveal a gap in the mass spectrum of relativistic objects:
neither black holes nor neutron stars with 2 - 5 solar masses have ever been observed.
Based on the solution of the GR-equations modified to include a universal scalar field at the background, it is argued that
all moderate and massive neutron stars should end invisible dark energy objects -DEOs.
Triggered by the field-baryonic matter interaction at supranuclear densities, a phase transition from normal compressible
nuclear matter into an incompressible quark-superfluid must occur at roughly three times the nuclear density.
The injected dark energy via the field creates a global confining bag, inside which a Fermi-sea of freely moving quarks is
formed in perfect agreement with the asymptotic freedom of quantum chromodynamics - QCD.
While this may provide an explanation for the absence of low-mass stellar BHs, it also suggests that DEOs might have
hidden connection to dark matter and dark energy in cosmology.