Deconfinement signals from pulsar timing

Abstract

The occurence of a quark matter core in rotating compact stars has been investigated within general relativity as a function of both the rotational frequency and the total baryon number. We demonstrate that the deviation of the braking index from $n=3$ signals not only the occurence but also the size of a quark matter core in a pulsar. We suggest that in systems with mass accretion onto a rapidly rotating compact star a spin-down to spin-up transition might signal a deconfinement transition in its interior.