Hadron-quark matter phase transition in neutron stars

Abstract

A structured mixed phase consisting of quark and hadron phases is numerically studied with the Coulomb screening effect and the surface effect. We carefully introduced the Coulomb potential, so that a geometrical structure becomes mechanically unstable when the surface tension is large. Charge densities are largely rearranged by the screening effect, and thereby the equation of state shows the similar behavior to that given by the Maxwell construction. Therefore, although bulk calculations with the Gibbs conditions show that the mixed phase may exist in a wide density region, we can see it is restricted to a narrow density region by the surface effect and the Coulomb screening effect.