First-order phase transitions with more than one conserved charge: Consequences for neutron stars

TLDR

First‑order phase transitions in multicomponent systems differ from single‑component ones, notably with a continuously varying pressure across the mixed phase, and these effects also apply to gas‑liquid transitions studied in low‑energy nuclear collisions. The study examines how first‑order phase transitions differ in multicomponent systems compared to single‑component systems. The authors identify the microphysics underlying the pressure variation and explore its implications for neutron‑star cores undergoing a transition to quark matter. The analysis predicts that when electric charge is conserved, the mixed phase develops a geometric structure, and these findings also affect interpretations of pressure‑driven signals in baryon‑rich relativistic nuclear collisions.

Abstract

We consider how first-order phase transitions in systems having more than one conserved charge (multicomponent systems) differ from those in systems having only one. In general, the properties of the transition are quite different in the two cases. Perhaps most importantly the pressure varies continuously with the proportion of phases in equilibrium, and is not a constant in the mixed phase as in the example of the gas-liquid transition in familiar one-component systems. We identify the microphysics responsible for the difference. In the case that one of the conserved charges is the electric charge, a geometrical structure in the mixed phase is expected. As an example, possible consequences are developed for the structure of a neutron star in which the transition to quark matter in the core occurs. It is also pointed out that the general results pertain to relativistic nuclear collisions in the so-called stopping or baryon-rich domain where there are three conserved charges (baryon, electric, and strangeness), and impact the expected phase transition from confined hadronic matter to quark matter as regards signals that are supposedly driven by pressure. The physics discussed here is also relevant to the subunclear gas-liquid transition that is under study in lower-energy nuclear collisions.