Sequential deconfinement of quark flavors in neutron stars

Understand

We suggest a scenario where the three light quark flavors are sequentially deconfined under increasing pressure in cold asymmetric nuclear matter as found, e.g., in neutron stars.

• The basis for our analysis is a chiral quark matter model of Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) type with diquark pairing in the spin-1 single flavor (CSL), spin-0 two flavor (2SC) and three flavor (CFL) channels.
• We find that nucleon dissociation sets in at about the saturation density, n_0, when the down-quark Fermi sea is populated (d-quark dripline) due to the flavor asymmetry induced by beta-equilibrium and charge neutrality.
• At about 3n_0 u-quarks appear and a two-flavor color superconducting (2SC) phase is formed.