Quarkyonic matter with strangeness in an extended relativistic mean-field model
Phys. Rev. D 113, 094021 – Published 12 May, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/bnc1-452p
Abstract
Quarkyonic matter is expected to play a key role for the transition from hadronic matter to quark matter in compact stars. Within the framework of the relativistic mean-field model and equivparticle model with density-dependent quark masses, we construct the “quark Fermi sea” with a “baryon Fermi surface” to characterize the properties of the quarkyonic matter. In particular, we develop a comprehensive framework to account for the strangeness degrees of freedom, incorporating , , and hyperons as well as strange quarks in a unified quarkyonic framework. Our calculations indicate that the inevitable emergence of hyperons softens the equations of state, leading to a reduction in the equilibrium sound velocity around , and consequently reducing the masses and radii of neutron stars. When the quark-hadron phase transition is taken into account, the equation of state at high densities exhibits additional softening consistent with current astronomical observational constraints. This softening leads to a maximum equilibrium sound velocity of , which is close to the ultrarelativistic limit of .