Abstract
The diverse nature of the signal resulting from the phase transition of a neutron star to a quark star and the corresponding astrophysical observations are studied in the present work. The phase transition process is initiated by a density change at the star's center that deconfines matter, followed by weak combustion to attain absolutely stable strange quark matter. The weak combustion results in the generation of huge neutrino-antineutrino pairs, which annihilate and deposit energy on the star's surface. Structural changes due to the energy loss result in the star's misalignment angle evolution and generate gravitational waves. The energy budget and time signature for the neutrino-antineutrino annihilation are compared with the observed isotropic energy for a short -ray burst. The misalignment angle evolves to align with the star's symmetry axis, which leads to the sudden increase or decrease of radio intensity from the pulsar. The corresponding gravitational wave emission, both continuous and burst, also has a unique signature pointing towards astrophysical phase transition.
- Received 14 February 2022
- Accepted 31 May 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.105.065807
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