Abstract
We study how vortices in dense superfluid hadronic matter can connect to vortices in superfluid quark matter, as in rotating neutron stars, focusing on the extent to which quark-hadron continuity can be maintained. As we show, a singly quantized vortex in three-flavor symmetric hadronic matter can connect smoothly to a singly quantized non-Abelian vortex in three-flavor symmetric quark matter in the color-flavor locked (CFL) phase, without the necessity for boojums appearing at the transition.
Highlights
In a rotating neutron star, the superfluid components—the nuclear liquid at lower densities and a possible colorflavor locked (CFL) quark phase [1] at higher densities in the interior—carry angular momentum in the form of quantized vortices
A singly quantized vortex in three-flavor symmetric hadronic matter can connect smoothly to a singly quantized non-Abelian vortex in three-flavor symmetric quark matter in the colorflavor locked phase, without the necessity for boojums appearing at the transition
We ask, are the vortices in these two phases connected? Can one have continuity or must there be a discontinuity? How do the possible connections depend on the particular flavor structure of the matter? In the ground state of dense matter, the picture of quarkhadron continuity [2,3] is that as the baryon density is increased matter undergoes a smooth crossover from the hadronic phase to the quark phase
Summary
The nuclear liquid at lower densities and a possible colorflavor locked (CFL) quark phase [1] at higher densities in the interior—carry angular momentum in the form of quantized vortices. In the ground state of dense matter, the picture of quarkhadron continuity [2,3] is that as the baryon density is increased matter undergoes a smooth crossover from the hadronic phase to the quark phase By studying how such vortices connect we can shed further light on whether the notion of quark-hadron continuity can be extended to angular momentum carrying states of dense hadronic matter. In the confined phase (upper half of the figure) the hadronic vortex carries angular momentum via the circulation of a gauge-invariant dibaryon condensate that acquires a phase of 2π when transported around the core This vortex can be continuously connected to a non-Abelian CFL vortex [8] in the CFL quark phase (lower half of the figure) where the vortex has the same baryon circulation, but it arises in the unitary gauge from three diquark condensates, one of which acquires a phase of 2π when transported around the core. We focus throughout on the properties of connecting single vortices, and leave the discussion of an array of vortices in the CFL phase at finite rotation for the future
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