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Hydrodynamics of relativistic superheated bubbles

Yago Bea1,2, Jorge Casalderrey-Solana1,2, David Mateos1,2,3, and Mikel Sanchez-Garitaonandia4

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 114041 – Published 24 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/65sr-b56w

Abstract

Relativistic, charged, superheated bubbles may play an important role in neutron star mergers if first-order phase transitions are present in the phase diagram of quantum chromodynamics. We describe the properties of these bubbles in the hydrodynamic regime. We find two qualitative differences with supercooled bubbles. First, the pressure at the center of an expanding superheated bubble can be higher or lower than the pressure in the asymptotic, metastable phase. Second, some fluid flows develop metastable regions behind the bubble wall for any choice of the equation of state. We consider the possible role of a conserved charge akin to baryon number. The fluid flow profiles are unaffected by this charge if the speed of sound is constant in each phase, but they are modified for more general equations of state. We compute the efficiency factor relevant for gravitational wave production.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 114041– Published 24 December, 2025
  • Received 26 May 2025
  • Accepted 8 December 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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