Neutron-mirror neutron mixing and neutron stars

The oscillation of neutron n into mirror neutron n ′ , its mass degenerate partner from dark mirror sector, can gradually transform the neutron stars into the mixed stars consisting in part of mirror dark matter. In quark stars n - n ′ transitions are suppressed. We study the structure of mixed star...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields Particles and fields, 2021-11, Vol.81 (11), p.1-23, Article 1036
Main Authors: Berezhiani, Zurab, Biondi, Riccardo, Mannarelli, Massimo, Tonelli, Francesco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomy
Astrophysics and Cosmology
Dark matter
Elementary Particles
Equations of state
Gravitational waves
Hadrons
Heavy Ions
Measurement Science and Instrumentation
Neutron stars
Neutrons
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear Physics
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Pulsars
Quantum Field Theories
Quantum Field Theory
Quark stars
Quarks
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Star mergers
Stellar oscillations
String Theory
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Summary:The oscillation of neutron n into mirror neutron n ′ , its mass degenerate partner from dark mirror sector, can gradually transform the neutron stars into the mixed stars consisting in part of mirror dark matter. In quark stars n - n ′ transitions are suppressed. We study the structure of mixed stars and derive the mass-radius scaling relations between the configurations of purely neutron star and maximally mixed star (MMS) containing equal amounts of ordinary and mirror components. In particular, we show that the MMS masses can be at most M NS max / 2 , where M NS max is a maximum mass of a pure neutron star allowed by a given equation of state. We evaluate n - n ′ transition rate in neutron stars, and show that various astrophysical limits on pulsar properties exclude the transition times in a wide range 10 5 year < τ ε < 10 15 year . For short transition times, τ ε < 10 5  year, the different mixed stars of the same mass can have different radii, depending on their age, which possibility can be tested by the NICER measurements. We also discuss subtleties related with the possible existence of mixed quark stars, and possible implications for the gravitational waves from the neutron star mergers and associated electromagnetic signals.
ISSN:1434-6044
1434-6052
DOI:10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-09806-1