Consequences of a strong phase transition in the dense matter equation of state for the rotational evolution of neutron stars

Understand

We explore the implications of a strong first-order phase transition region in the dense matter equation of state in the interiors of rotating neutron stars, and the resulting creation of two disjoint families of neutron-star configurations (the so-called high-mass twins).

• We numerically obtained rotating, axisymmetric, and stationary stellar configurations in the framework of general relativity, and studied their global parameters and stability.
• The instability induced by the equation of state divides stable neutron star configurations into two disjoint families: neutron stars (second family) and hybrid stars (third family), with an overlapping region in mass, the high-mass twin-star region.
• These two regions are divided by an instability strip.