Nucl ear Physi cs B(Proc. Suppl .

) 24B(1991) 144-147
North-Hol l and
BURNI NGOF STRANGEQUARKMATTERANDTRANSPORTPROPERTI ES OF QCDPLASMAS
H. HEI SELBERG, G. BAYM, and C. . ! . PETHI CK
Department of
Physi cs
.
Uni versi ty of I l l i noi s at Urbana-Champai gn,
1110 W. GreenSt. , Urbana, I L 61801, U. S. A
.
and
Nordi ta. Bl egdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen0, Denmark.
Wederi ve the transport equati ons
and
the rel evant transport coef f i ci ents f or the burni ng of neutron matter i nto
strangequark matter andsol ve the burni ng probl emanal yti cal l y f or barel y f l ammabl e neutron matter .
1.
I NTRODUCTI ON
Strange quark matter (SQM) , at f i ni te strange quark
f racti on, has been specul ated to have l ower mi ni mumen-
ergy per baryon than nucl ear matter andthus be the true
ground
state of matter. I n thi s case neutron stars i ni -
ti al l y f ormedof nucl ear matter woul d burn
thoroughl yto
f ormstrange quark stars. Asecondi nteresti ng
possi bi l i ty
i s that
the mi ni mumenergy per baryon of strange quark
matter
l i es above that of the ground state of hadroni c
matter, but bel ow
the mi ni mumenergy f or quark matter
wi th zero strangeness
content . I n thi s case the core of
a neutron star
woul d burn to strange quark matter down
to the l i mi ti ng densi ty
at whi ch strange quark matter i s
i n phase equi l i bri umwi th nucl ear
matter, l eavi ng the star
wi th a hadroni c mantl e.
1ei e wedescri be
the transport processes i n burni ng
and
cal cul ate the burni ng spe
:
, ds i n
greater detai l than
i n earl y
esti mates. l . 2Recent devel opments
i n the under
standi ng
of scatteri ng processes i n rel ati vi sti c
QEDand
QCDpl asmas now enabl e ri gorous
cal cul ati on of trans-
port
coef f i ci ents anal yti cal l y wi thi n
perturbati veQCDand
QED3; the i mportant new physi cs i s
i ncl usi on of "dynam-
i cal
screeni ng" of the transverse
(magneti c) i nteracti ons
i n
pl asmas, due
to Landa! 1 dampi ng
of exhaneed
el uons , . r _ V

a

_
or
photons, whi ch regul ari zes
the troubl esome Ruaherf ord
scatteri ng
di vergencei n these
i nteracti ons .
2.
THEBURNI NG
FRONT
We
assumethat a seed of quark
matter i s produced,
e. g. , i n the
supernova expl osi on, to i ni ti ate
theburni ng of
the hadroni c
matter, andstudy the
steady state burni ng
f ront
between the hadroni c
matter and the deconf i ned
0920-5632/91/$03
. 50
i J
1991 - El sevi er
Sci ence Publ i shers B. V.

Al l ri ghts
reserved.
quark matter exi sti ng af ter i ni ti al transi ents aredamped
.
For si mpl i ci ty, we consi der the burni ng
of pure neutron
matter to SQM, andgeneral l y take c =h
=
kB
_
1.
Because SQMmust have a f i ni te f racti on of strange
quarks to bethe pref erredthermodynami cstate, thespeed
of the f ront
i s l i mi ted by the sl ow rate at whi ch the d-
quarks i n thedeconf i ned phase
areconverted i nto s-quark
by theweak process dul -~
u2s, and bythe rateat whi ch
the f uel d-quarks and the
waste s-quarks are transported
behi nd the f ront . The burni ng f ront
consi sts of a sharp
deconf i nement transi ti on regi on,
on the scal e of f m, and
a l onger regi on over whi ch
thestrangeness content of the
SQMi ncreases f romi ts val ue at the
deconf i nement tran-
si ti on up to that i n the true ground
state. The phases
on the two si des of the deconf i nement transi ti on can be
taken to be i n phase equi l i bri um. The burni ng proces
proceeds f i rst
by deconf i nement of hadroni c matter to a
state,
S' ,
of strange
quark matter wi th whi ch i t can be
i n phase equi l i bri um.
Such a state al ways exi sts whenever
SQMi s the
thermodynami cal l y pref erred state and non-
strange
quark matter i s not . Thedeconf i nement proces
does not producestrangeness, i t onl yadds uaHd-quarks;
the
strange quarks i nthe phaseS' remai nbehi nd thef ront
f romeadi cer
v: eak con: ' e ar_ : c. e.
Because the burni ng
f ront i s thi n compared to char-
acteri sti c scal e hei ghts i n the star,
we need onl y sol ve
the transport processes l ocal l y and
can negl ect vari ati on
of
neutron matter densi ty, pressure and temperature i n
descri bi ng the f ront . We can assume the f ront to be
l ocal l y
pl anar so that the burni ng process
reduces to
a
one-di mensi onal probl em.
Wework
i n the f rsme i n whi ch the f ront i s at rest,
Neut r on mat t er
H. Hei sel ber g et al . / Bur ni ng of st r ange quar k mat t er andt r anspor t , pr oper t i es
of QCDpl asmas
r =0
Quar k mat t er
-+
ud
FI GURE
1
The f l ow vel oc i t i es at t he f r ont .
u
Ue
r
i l l ust r at ed i n f i gur e 1 . We t ake t he neut r on mat t er ,
of
number densi t y nn, t o ent er t he
f r ont wi t h vel oc i t y UF.
On t he quar k mat t er
si de quar k c onser vat i on r equi r es t hat
t he d, u, ands quar ks emer ge f r omt he boundar y ( r =0)
wi t h f l ow vel oc i t i es
ud,
uu, and ua obeyi ng
udnd

=

2uunu
=
2nnUF,

( 2. 1)
c ana - Os
( 2. 2)
wher e nq i s t he number densi t y of quar k t ype q=d, u, s.
Fur t her mor e, equi l i br i umbet ween t he
t wo phases r equi r es
c ont i nui t y of t he i nt ensi ve
t her modynami c var i abl es :
Pn

=

Pd+Pu +P, -
B,

( 2. 3 )
Pn

=

2
Pd+Pu,

( 2
. 4 )
Tn = Tu = Td =Ta,

( 2. 5)
wher e Pn ,
Fi n
and Tn
ar e t he neut r on pr essur e, c hemi c al
pot ent i al and
t emper at ur e, andt he Pq, pq and Tq ar e t he
c or r espondi ng
quant i t i es f or t he spec i es q. I n wr i t i ng eq.
2. 4 we negl ec t i nt er ac t i on
ef f ec t s on t he pr essur e, and i n-
c l ude onl y a bag
c onst ant B. Mat hemat i c al l y, we have
ei ght boundar y
c ondi t i ons at t he f r ont and ni ne var i abl es
( uq, TQ, nq , f or q=d, u, s) t o
be det er mi ned, f or gi ven c on-
di t i ons i n t he neut r on
mat t er . The mi ssi ng c ondi t i on i s
t hat t he
t ot al c har ge behi nd t he f r ont vani she3 , si nc e
one
' 4 r ni nq
neut r al
mat t er
. [ Gener al l y, c ount er f l ows pr o-
duc e c har ge separ at i on,
so t hat t he c har ge densi t y need
not vani sh l oc al l y. )
The f r ont vel oc i t y,
UF,
i s uni quel y
de-
t er mi ned t hc n by t he
r equi r ement t hat t he syst emasymp-
t ot i c al l y r eac h equi l i br i um
at r
=
oo, anal ogous t o t he
ei genval ue pr obl emf or bound
st at es i n t he Sc hr 6di nger
equat i on
. 4
14 5
3 . TRANSPORTEQUATI ONS
We desc r i be t he ki net i c s wi t h
t he Bol t zmann equat i on
f or t he i ndi vi dual quar k c omponent s :
( a/ at
+v, - or ) nq( c , ) =( anq/ f ot t .

( 3 . 1)
The c ol l i si on i nt egr al on t he r i ght si de of
eq. 3 . 1 c onsi st
of a c onver si on t er mdul -+u2s anda f r i c t i on t er mar i s-
i ng f r omt he di f f er ent
quar k spec i es havi ng di f f er ent f l ow
vel oc i t i es . For st eady st at e
bur ni ng al l var i abl es depend
onl y on t he di st anc e r f r omt he f r ont i n
t he r est f r ame o
t he f r ont . Si nc e t her mal equi l i br at i on t akes pl ac e on ver y
shor t st r ong i nt er ac t i on t i me sc al es, wher eas t he bur ni ng
t akes pl ac e on l onger t i me sc al es c ont r ol l ed by t he weak
i nt er ac t i ons, we c an gener al l y assume t he quar ks t o be i n
l oc al equi l i br i um
n4 ( e, ) =( expl ( er

I l q( r )
- uq( r ) -
P) f T, ( r ) , ,
-, -
1) `' .
( 3
. 2)
Mul t i pl yi ng t he Bol t zmann equat i on 3 . 1 by r noi nc -
t umandsummi ng we obt ai n
VP, , =
EP( angl at )
c
o
=
Qa.

( 3
. 3 )
P
The r at e of moment uml oss,
Qa,
bet ween
t he c ount er -
f l owi r b quar ks i s c al c ul at ed i n r ef .
5
f or T aq and
i n r ef . 6 f or T
<C
pa
wi t hi n per t ur bat i ve QCD, and i s
pr opor t i onal t o t he r el at i ve f l ow vel oc i t i es of t he
di f f er ent
quar k spec i es
1

2 2
Q9
. . , _-
E
(
q
-
Uq, )
egLQ'
-
T.
q,

7r 2
( 3
. 4 )
The c har ac t er i st i c r at e of moment umst oppi ng by st r ong
i nt er ac t i ons,
Ts `, i s gi ven i n per t ur bat i ve QCD6 by
T-1
=
4 Ta2
x

l og( T/ qD)

,
T
qD

( 3 . 5)
r

'

a( Tl
gD)
213

, T

qD
wher e
a =( 27r ) 2/ 3 I ' ( 8/ 3 ) t; ( 5/ 3 ) / 9 =1 . 2, a, i s
t he QCD
f i ne st r uc t ur e c onst ant and qDi s t he Debye
sc r eeni n
l engt h, gi ven by
qv
=6aa p2/ 7r f or SQM
wi t hzer o st r ange
quar k mass, m. , .
The st r ong dependenc e on T/ qD
i n eq. 3 . 5 ar i se
bec ause t he st oppi ng pr oc ess i s
domi nat ed by smal l mo-
ment um t r ansf er s
-
qD.
When T qD, eq . 3 . 5
i s pr opor t i onal t o t he usual
l ogar i t hm of t he mexi mum
and mi ni mum moment um
t r ansf er gi ven by T and qD
r espec t i vel y
. 3 , 5 For T
qD,
however , we do not obt ai n
146 H. Hei sel ber g
et al . / Bur ni ng of st r ange quar k mat t er and t r anspor t pr oper t i es of QCDpl asmas
t he usual r s' - T2
r esul t ; i nst ead we f i nd
r s' " " " T5/ 3
because Landau
dampi ng scr eens6 moment um
t r ansf er s
q, <
( gw) ' l 3
wher et he ener gy t r ansf er , w,
i s - T. [ I n 3. 4
we
negl ect t he t i ny cont r i but i on
f r omt he weak conver -
si ons. ] Not e t hat Qu +
Qd
+
Q,
=
0; eq. 3. 3 aut omat i -
cal l y i nsur es t hat t he
t ot al pr essur e i s const ant t hr oughout
t he bur ni ng
r egi on.
Mul t i pl yi ng
eq.
3. 1
wi t h par t i cl e ener gy and
summi ng
weobt ai n
t he ener gy conser vat i on condi t i ons f or
smal l u
4,
a
- ( uvw) _
E
e, ( an
q
/ at ) , ou,

( 3. 6)
P
wher e t he ent hal pi es w4 f or ani deal
r el at i vi st i c gas equal
4Pq. The r i ght si de of eq. 3. 6 cont ai ns ener gy
t r ansf er
f r ommoment um
t r ansf er as wel l as conver si onpr ocesses .
Duet o t he r api d t her mJ t r ansf er bet weent he t hr ee quar k
speci es t hey have al most t he same t emper at ur e, Td - - -
Tu =T, - T( r ) ; equat i ons 3. 6 t hen r educe t o
t he t ot al
ener gy conser vat i on
condi t i on
V- r ugwq =0.

( 3. 7 )
q
Last l y, summi ng eq. 3. 1 over moment a, and usi ng
conser vat i onof moment umi ncol l i si ons, gi ves
t he number
conser vat i on equat i ons
V- ( u4nq) =
L
; ( r 3nq/ at ) ~ou - - _
Rq,

( 3. 8)
P
wher e R, i s t he weak conver si on r at e t o q- t ype quar ks .
For t he dul - +u2s pr ocess, Rd =- R, and Ru =0, so
t hat t he cur r ent s
udnd
+u, n, and
u, , nu
ar e separ at el y
conser ved
.
The r at e of s- quar k pr oduct i on i n mat t er at f i ni t e
t emper at ur e i s6
R,
N4( GFsi n20c) 2r 5`( Fp) 3, _
47 2T26yj

( 3. 9 )
57 r 5
when Pd and
p,
ar e
much l ar ger t han T, t he di f f er ence
by
` l i d
-
p

and m, ; her e
p
^=
( Ec, +Pd) / 2. Equat i on
3 9
r ener al i z es t he
T=0 r esul t 2 pr opor t i onal t o
6113 ;
t he
r at e f or T by
i s
oc
bpT2 i nst ead because under t hese
condi t i ons f i nal st at e
Paul i bl ocki ng i s det er mi nedby t he
t emper at ur es,
r at her t han by by.
Equat i ons 3. 8, 3. 4, and 3. 7 , wi t h t he boundar y con-
di t i ons eqs
. 2. 1- 2. 5, descr i be t he st r uct ur e of t he f r ont ,
uq( r ) ,
pq( r ) ,
and T( r ) .
4.
BARELY FLAMMABLENEUTRON STARS
The t r anspor t equat i ons can be sol ved anal yt i cal l y
when t he gr ound st at e of st r ange quar k mat t er i s onl y
sl i ght l y l ower t han t hat of t he neut r on mat t er , as
est i -
mat es r i ggest 2 For si mpl i ci t y we negl ect m, compar ed
wi t h
p
.
. , and assume t he quar ks
t o be i deal r el at i vi st i
gasses, wi t h
P, =y4/ 47 r 2 and ny =p/ r2. The equi l i b-
r i um
st at e of
SQM
at r =oo has
Ecd
=
Ecu
=, p, -
p,
wher e i t i s det er mi nedby t he pr essur e, const ant t hr ough-
out , P =Pd+P
u
+P, - B.
The condi t i on of mar gi nal f l ammabi l i t y i s t hat p i s
onl y sl i ght l y gr eat er t han3Ec . At t he f r ont ,
An
=
2Pd+Pu;
i f we make t he ansat z t hat yu( r ) ^- -
p,
t hen const ant
pr essur e i mpl i es t hat at t he f r ont
Pd
=
p
+bp( 0) l 2 and
p,
=
#
- bp( 0) l 2, wher e bp( 0) - - Ec - 3p i s smal l .
Gener al l y, bp( r )
=
pd( r )
-
y, ( r ) i s
a
smal l quant i t y.
Li near i z i ng t he t r anspor t equat i ons ( 3. 8, 3. 4, 3. 7 ) i n
t he devi at i ons of t he chemi cal pot ent i al s f r om
p,
we see
t hat i ndeed pu i s const ant t o f i r st or der , as i s t he f l ow
vel oci t y uu. Fur t her mor e u, +
ud
=u
u
t o f i r st or der ; at
t he f r ont , and i n f act t hr oughout ,
ud
>- u, . Onl y t he
quant i t i es bp( r ) and
ud
- u, dependon posi t i on behi nd
t he f r ont . To l i near or der , t he char ge densi t y behi nd t he
f r ont vani shes l ocal l y.
Theent r opy i ns = ease f r ombur ni ngi s oc
b<1
2
. Si nce t he
ent r opy of degener at e mat t er i s oc T2, t he t emper at ur e i n
t he bur ni ng r egi on i s al ways NbI A, so t hat t he T2 t er mi n
eq.
3. q
i s at l east as l ar ge as t he f i r st . Thus
The
f act or 3 i n eq. 4. 4 r ef l ect s t he pr esence of t he u-
quar ks
. Li near i z i ng i n bp( r ) we obt ai n
9 dr 2 - uudr

r w)
bp( r ) =0. ( 4
. 5)
Whenby

p
t henuu
i s
smal l as
wel l
and
we
cansaf el y
negl ect t he
mi ddl e t er mof eq. 4. 5 . The sol ut i on of eq.
4
. 5
t hat
i s
r egul ar
at i nf i ni t y i s
6u( r )
z
bp( 0) exp( - r / 1)

( 4. 6)
R
s ^- ' ( nd-
n, ) / 2r
. ( 4. 1)
wher e
_1 32( GF si n2Q, ) 2
. . 3T2.
( 4. 2)
Fr omeqs . 3. 8 and3. 3
V
- ( u, n, -
udnd)
=( nd-
n, ) / Tu,
( 4. 3)
4
V( P&- Rd) _
-
. T
( ud U, )
T~2
T2_
( 4
. 4)
H. Hei sel ber g et al . / Bur ni ng of st r ange quar k
mat t er andt r anspor t pr oper t i es of
QCDpl asmas
Thef r ont vel oci t y i s f oundby i mposi ng t he
boundar y con-
di t i ons 2. 1 and 2. 2 on eq. 4. 8 f or bp( r ) :
uF =
nu
( ud - us) r =o =
bl l O)
n
u

T
s
2n

l e n
We see t hat t he bur ni ng t akes
pl ace i n a r egi on of l engt h
l , i n a t i me - 1- uF

r t i as
expect ed.
Ol i nt o2
assumes a di f f usi on equat i on si mi l ar t o eq.
4. 5 t o descr i be t he bur ni ng f r ont ,
wi t h a weak conver -
si on r at e R, t hat i s
24
t i mes
l ess t han eq. 3. 9 andf or
T=0 ( an appr oxi mat i on
t hat r esul t s i n an ext r a f ac-
t or of bp( 0) i n eq. 4
. 9) .
Amean quar k
scat t er i ng t i me
r , - ( l f m/ c) ( p/ T)
2
t o t ake i nt o
account Paul i bl ocki ng
i s assumed, di f f er ent f r omt he T
KqD
l i mi t of eq.
3. 5 .
To est i mat e t he par amet er s i n t he bur ni ng
we t ake
t he char act er i st i c val ues T
-
10 MeVf or t he neu-
t r on mat t er t emper at ur e and
-
300 MeVf or t he quar k
chemi cal pot ent i al s . The QCDf i ne st r uct ur e const ant
a,
i s
-
1 at t hese densi t i es ( so per t ur bat i on t heor y
may not
be t r ust wor t hy) . Wi t h : : : c : a! uc c
s
=0. 5
i n
eq . 3. 5 ( t he maxi mumval ue f or whi ch qD <
p, as r equi r ed f or t he val i di t y of eq .
3. 5)
we ob-
t ai n r , N
102( Fc/ 300MeV)
2/ 3( T/ I OMeV) - 5' 3 f m/ c; al so
r , t. 10' S( j / 300MeV) - 3( T/ I OMeV) - 2 f m/ c so t hat
v , r
r
, / r wc
-
100m/ s. The f r ont vel oci t y, eq. ( 4. 9) , wi l l
be an or der of magni t ude smal l er ,
OF
-
10 m/ s. Aneu-
t r on st ar of r adi us
t i
10 kmwi l l t hus bur n i n - 103 s,
somewhat f ast er t han t he r esul t of Ol i nt o.
REFERENCES
5 . SUMMARY
We have
gi ven her e t he t r anspor t
equat i ons andt he
r el evant t r anspor t
coef f i ci ent s f or t he
bur ni ng of neut r on
st ar s i nt o SQMand
sol ved anal yt i cal l y f or
weakl y unst abl e
neut r on mat t er .
As wi l l be r epor t ed el sewher e,
we have
al so sol ved t he
gener al non- l i near pr obl em
numer i cal l y f or
l ar ge bi c( 0) , and f i nd i n
t hi s l i mi t a si gni f i cant
t emper a-
t ur e
i ncr ease f r oment r opy
pr oduct i on. I n t he non- l i near
bur ni ng
pr obl emone must
t ake t he t emper at ur e depen-
dence of r , andTy, i nt o
account . Gener al l y t he t i me scal e
i s set by rwand t he l engt hscal e
by F. , - r , , so t hat t he
scal e of t he f r ont vel oci t y i s
set by c r , / r - .
Thi s wor k was suppor t ed
i n par t by NSF gr ant s
PHY86- 00377,
DMR88- 17613, DMR88- 18713,
PHY89-
21025, and NASA
gr ant NAGS- 1583.
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. Baym, E. W. Kol b, L. McLer r an, T. P. Wal ker ,
R.
L. J af f e, , Phys . Let t . 160B ( 1985) 181 .
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Ol i nt o, Phys. Let t . 192B( 1987) 71 ; C. Al cock,
andA. Ol i nt o, Ann. Rev. Nucl . Par t .
Sci
. 8 8
( 1988)
161 .
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G. Baym,
H. Moni en, C. J . Pet hi ck, andD. G. Raven-
hal l , Phys,
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Pet hi ck,
G. BaymandH. Moni en, Nucl . Phys. A498
( 1- 89) 313c.
4. Ya . B. Zel dovi ch,
G.
I .
Bar enbl at t , V. B. Li br ovi ch, G.
M.
Makhvi l adze, The Mat hemat i cal Theor y of Com-
bust i on and Expl osi ons, ( Pl enum1985).
5 . G. Baym, H. Mon; en, C. . i . Pet hi ck, andD. G. Raven-
hal l , Nucl . Phys . A525 ( 1991) 415c; G. Baym, H.
Hei sel ber g, H. Moni en, C. J . Pet hi ck, and J . Popp,
t o be publ i shed.
6. G.
Baym,
H. Hei sel ber g, and C. J . Pet hi ck, t o be
publ i shed.
wher e
1 =
VT- . r ; 13 .
( 4. 7)
I nser t i ng eq. 4. 6 i nt o eq. 4. 4 we f i nd
ud_us=
_2
r
_d bp( r ) r , bp( r ) -
dr
2
( 4. 8)
3 rw i t