轻夸克物质团、奇异子和致密矮星

相对于核物质和奇异夸克物质, 仅由两味夸克构成的轻夸克物质(即ud夸克物质)有可能更稳定. 而对于由这三类物质构成的典型物质集团, 研究发现如果ud夸克物质具有较大的对称能, 那么其物质团会在特定大小(重子数$A\approx1000$)时最稳定. 在这种情况下, 就可能存在由ud夸克物质团和电子构成的致密矮星, 即ud夸克矮星. 通过进一步研究这类ud夸克矮星的结构可知: 相较于传统的由原子核和电子构成的白矮星, ud夸克矮星通常具有较小的半径, 而被正常物质覆盖的ud夸克矮星的半径则在它们之间, 这与最近观测到的质量和半径都异常小的白矮星相符.

Light Quark Matter Nuggets, Strangelets and Compact Dwarfs

Light quark matter (i.e. udQM) comprised of up and down quarks might be stable with respect to nuclear matter and strange quark matter. In this work we investigate the stability of nuggets made of such types of matter, which shows that udQM nuggets at certain sizes are more stable than others if a large symmetry energy is adopted. In such cases, there may be compact dwarfs comprised entirely of udQM nuggets and electrons, i.e., udQM dwarfs. We then examine the structure of such udQM dwarfs and consider their possibility of being covered by normal matter crusts. It is found that udQM dwarfs typically have smaller radii and those covered by normal matter can explain the recently observed white dwarfs with unusually small radii.