• Accepted Paper

Observable signatures of a quarkyonic phase in neutron stars

Probit J Kalita, Tuhin Malik, Tianqi Zhao, Bharat Kumar, and James M. Lattimer

Phys. Rev. D - Accepted 28 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/1r5b-x7mv

Abstract

Quarkyonic matter in ()-equilibrium is a potential description of cold dense matter in neutron stars (NSs), that introduces non-interacting quarks alongside nucleons and leptons in NS cores. In this paper, we impose observational and theoretical constraints on the model to perform Bayesian inference on it, and find that it is possible to have quarkyonic matter equations of state that satisfy all current astrophysical observations, thereby reinforcing the argument for its use alongside traditional ones. To differentiate between NSs where a quarkyonic phase does and does not appear in the core, we identify some novel signatures based on the mass-radius relation. Focusing on canonical ((1.4 )) NSs, we find the populations of NSs with and without quarkyonic cores show separability on the basis of the slope and curvatures of the mass-radius curve, the central sound speed of the star, and the radius difference between two NSs of (2 ) and (1.4 ). We find promising results which show that these signatures can prove useful in the detection of quarks in the NS cores.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation

If the author has provided any supplemental materials with this article they will be available upon publication of the version of record.

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation