Mixed phase transition from hypernuclear matter to deconfined quark matter fulfilling mass-radius constraints of neutron stars

Abstract

Abstract A recent solution of the hyperon puzzle by a first order phase transition to color superconducting quark matter is revisited in order to replace the Maxwell construction by an interpolation method which describes a mixed phase. To do this, we apply for the first time the finite-range polynomial interpolation method for constructing a transition between hadronic and quark matter phases to the situation that is characterized in the literature as the reconfinement problem. For the description of the hadronic phase the lowest order constrained variational method is used while for the quark phase the nonlocal Nambu–Jona–Lasinio model with constant and with density-dependent parameters is employed. Applying the replacement interpolation method to both quark matter models results in a hybrid equation of state that allows a coexistence of nuclear matter, hypernuclear matter and quark matter in a mixed phase between the pure hadronic and quark phases which can also be realized in the structure of the corresponding hybrid star sequences. The predicted hybrid stars fulfill the constraints on the mass-radius relation for neutron stars obtained from recent observations.