Rotational enhancement and stability of protoquark stars during thermal evolution

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Issifu, Adamu, Konstantinou, Andreas, Thakur, Prashant, Frederico, Tobias
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908776381022208
author Issifu, Adamu
Konstantinou, Andreas
Thakur, Prashant
Frederico, Tobias
author_facet Issifu, Adamu
Konstantinou, Andreas
Thakur, Prashant
Frederico, Tobias
contents We present the first systematic study of rigidly rotating protoquark stars based on isentropic equations of state (EOS) within the density-dependent quark mass (DDQM) framework. Using a quasi-static equilibrium approach, we follow the Kelvin--Helmholtz evolution from hot, lepton-rich matter to a cold, catalyzed quark star. Rotation substantially enhances the maximum stable mass (by up to $\sim 40\%$), equatorial radius, and key rotational observables, with the ratio of rotational kinetic to gravitational potential energy, $T_{\rm kin}/|W|$, reaching $0.18$--$0.19$ near the Keplerian limit, indicating a heightened susceptibility to gravitational-wave--emitting instabilities. Thermal evolution introduces a clear ordering: all stellar properties peak during the lepton-rich stages and decrease monotonically as the star cools. Compared to hadronic stars, rotating protoquark stars exhibit larger radii, higher moments of inertia, and stronger quadrupolar deformation, producing a distinct signature in the mass--radius--spin plane that can accommodate objects such as HESS~J1731--347 and PSR~J0740+6620. These results demonstrate that future multimessenger observations must account for both thermal history and rotation to robustly identify quark matter in compact stars.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_13941
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Rotational enhancement and stability of protoquark stars during thermal evolution
Issifu, Adamu
Konstantinou, Andreas
Thakur, Prashant
Frederico, Tobias
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Nuclear Theory
We present the first systematic study of rigidly rotating protoquark stars based on isentropic equations of state (EOS) within the density-dependent quark mass (DDQM) framework. Using a quasi-static equilibrium approach, we follow the Kelvin--Helmholtz evolution from hot, lepton-rich matter to a cold, catalyzed quark star. Rotation substantially enhances the maximum stable mass (by up to $\sim 40\%$), equatorial radius, and key rotational observables, with the ratio of rotational kinetic to gravitational potential energy, $T_{\rm kin}/|W|$, reaching $0.18$--$0.19$ near the Keplerian limit, indicating a heightened susceptibility to gravitational-wave--emitting instabilities. Thermal evolution introduces a clear ordering: all stellar properties peak during the lepton-rich stages and decrease monotonically as the star cools. Compared to hadronic stars, rotating protoquark stars exhibit larger radii, higher moments of inertia, and stronger quadrupolar deformation, producing a distinct signature in the mass--radius--spin plane that can accommodate objects such as HESS~J1731--347 and PSR~J0740+6620. These results demonstrate that future multimessenger observations must account for both thermal history and rotation to robustly identify quark matter in compact stars.
title Rotational enhancement and stability of protoquark stars during thermal evolution
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Nuclear Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.13941