Aims. We present a new microscopic hadron-quark hybrid equation of state model for astrophysical applications, from which compact hybrid star configurations are constructed. These are composed of a quark core and a hadronic shell with a first-order phase transition at their interface. The resulting mass-radius relations are in accordance with the latest astrophysical constraints. Methods. The quark matter description is based on a quantum chromodynamics (QCD) motivated chiral approach with higher-order quark interactions in the Dirac scalar and vector coupling channels. For hadronic matter we select a relativistic mean-field equation of state with density-dependent couplings. Since the nucleons are treated in the quasi-particle framework, an excluded volume correction has been included for the nuclear equation of state at suprasaturation density which takes into account the finite size of the nucleons. Results. These novel aspects, excluded volume in the hadronic phase and the higher-order repulsive interactions in the quark phase, lead to a strong first-order phase transition with large latent heat, i.e. the energy-density jump at the phase transition, which fulfils a criterion for a disconnected third-family branch of compact stars in the mass-radius relationship. These twin stars appear at high masses (∼2 M ) that are relevant for current observations of high-mass pulsars.Conclusions. This analysis offers a unique possibility by radius observations of compact stars to probe the QCD phase diagram at zero temperature and large chemical potential and even to support the existence of a critical point in the QCD phase diagram.

We study the role of finite-size effects at the hadron-quark phase transition in a new hybrid equation of state constructed from an ab initio Brückner-Hartree-Fock equation of state with the realistic Bonn-B potential for the hadronic phase and a covariant nonlocal Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model for the quark phase. We construct static hybrid star sequences and find that our model can support stable hybrid stars with an onset of quark matter below 2M and a maximum mass above 2.17M in agreement with recent observations. If the finite-size effects are taken into account the core is composed of pure quark matter. Provided that the quark vector channel interaction is small, and the finite size effects are taken into account, quark matter appears at densities 2-3 times the nuclear saturation density. In that case the proton fraction in the hadronic phase remains below the value required by the onset of the direct URCA process, so that the early onset of quark matter shall affect on the rapid cooling of the star.

We discuss and propose the minimal generalization of the Witten-Veneziano relation to finite temperatures, prompted by STAR and PHENIX experimental results on the multiplicity of 0 mesons. After explaining why these results show that the zero-temperature Witten-Veneziano relation cannot be straightforwardly extended to temperatures T too close to the chiral restoration temperature T Ch and beyond, we find the quantity which should replace, at T > 0, the Yang-Mills topological susceptibility appearing in the T ¼ 0 Witten-Veneziano relation, in order to avoid the conflict with experiment at T > 0. This is illustrated through concrete T-dependences of pseudoscalar meson masses in a chirally well-behaved, Dyson-Schwinger approach, but our results and conclusions are of a more general nature and, essentially, model-independent.

Abstract. We explore systematically a new class of two-phase equations of state (EoS) for hybrid stars that is characterized by three main features : (1) stiffening of the nuclear EoS at supersaturation densities due to quark exchange effects (Pauli blocking) between hadrons, modelled by an excluded volume correction, (2) stiffening of the quark matter EoS at high densities due to multiquark interactions and (3) possibility for a strong first order phase transition with an early onset and large density jump. The third feature results from a Maxwell construction for the possible transition from the nuclear to a quark matter phase and its properties depend on the two parameters used for (1) and (2), respectively. Varying these two parameters one obtains a class of hybrid EoS that yields solutions of the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equations for sequences of hadronic and hybrid stars in the mass-radius diagram which cover the full range of patterns according to the Alford-Han-Prakash classification following which a hybrid star branch can be either absent, connected or disconnected with the hadronic one. The latter case often includes a tiny connected branch. The disconnected hybrid star branch, also called "third family", corresponds to highmass twin stars characterized by the same gravitational mass but different radii. We perform a Bayesian analysis and demonstrate that the observation of such a pair of high-mass twin stars would have a sufficient discriminating power to favor hybrid EoS with a strong first order phase transition over alternative EoS. PACS

We introduce an effective quark-meson-nucleon model for the QCD phase transitions at finite baryon density. The nucleon and the quark degrees of freedom are described within a unified framework of a chiral linear sigma model. The deconfinement transition is modeled through a simple modification of the distribution functions of nucleons and quarks, where an additional auxiliary field, the bag field, is introduced. The bag field plays a key role in converting between the nucleon and the quark degrees of freedom. The model predicts that the chiral and the deconfinement phase transitions are always separated. Depending on the model parameters, the chiral transition occurs in the baryon density range of (1.5 − 15.5)n 0 , while the deconfinement transition occurs above 5n 0 , where n 0 is the saturation density.

Abstract.We explore the possibility of obtaining heavy hybrid stars within the framework of the two flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model that includes 8-quark interactions in the scalar and in the vector channel. The main impact of the 8-quark scalar channel is to reduce the onset of quark matter, while the 8-quark vector channel acts to stiffen the equation of state at high densities. Within the parameter space where the 4-quark vector channel is small, and the 8-quark vector channel sizeable, stable stars with masses of 2 M and above are found to hold quark matter in their cores.

We compute the cross section for photons emitted from sea quarks in protonnucleus collisions at collider energies. The computation is performed within the dilute-dense kinematics of the Color Glass Condensate (CGC) effective field theory. Albeit the result obtained is formally at next-to-leading order in the CGC power counting, it provides the dominant contribution for central rapidities. We observe that the inclusive photon cross section is proportional to all-twist Wilson line correlators in the nucleus. These correlators also appear in quark-pair production; unlike the latter, photon production is insensitive to hadronization uncertainties and therefore more sensitive to multi-parton correlations in the gluon saturation regime of QCD. We demonstrate that k ⊥ and collinear factorized expressions for inclusive photon production are obtained as leading twist approximations to our result. In particular, the collinearly factorized expression is directly sensitive to the nuclear gluon distribution at small x. Other results of interest include the realization of the Low-Burnett-Kroll soft photon theorem in the CGC framework and a comparative study of how the photon amplitude is obtained in Lorenz and light-cone gauges.

Nonlocal PNJL models allow for a detailed description of chiral quark dynamics with running quark masses and wave function renormalization in accordance with lattice QCD (LQCD) in vacuum. Their generalization to finite temperature T and chemical potential µ allows to reproduce the * Speaker.