title: Holographic Quark Matter and Neutron Stars.
abstract: We use a top-down holographic model for strongly interacting quark matter to study the properties of neutron stars. When the corresponding equation of state (EOS) is matched with state-of-the-art results for dense nuclear matter, we consistently observe a first-order phase transition at densities between 2 and 7 times the nuclear saturation density. Solving the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov equations with the resulting hybrid EOSs, we find maximal stellar masses in excess of two solar masses, albeit somewhat smaller than those obtained with simple extrapolations of the nuclear matter EOSs. Our calculation predicts that no quark matter exists inside neutron stars.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Universidad de Oviedo, Avenida Calvo Sotelo 18, ES-33007 Oviedo, Spain.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hoyos
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Helsinki Institute of Physics, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, Helsinki FI-00014, Finland.
authors.forename: Niko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jokela
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Universidad de Oviedo, Avenida Calvo Sotelo 18, ES-33007 Oviedo, Spain.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rodríguez Fernández
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Helsinki Institute of Physics, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, Helsinki FI-00014, Finland.
authors.forename: Aleksi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vuorinen