Numerical simulation of the hydrodynamical combustion to strange quark matter

Journal Article · Wed Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVC.82.062801· OSTI ID:21499250

Niebergal, Brian; Ouyed, Rachid ^[1]; Jaikumar, Prashanth ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4 (Canada)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, California State University Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, California 90840 (United States)

We present results from a numerical solution to the burning of neutron matter inside a cold neutron star into stable u,d,s quark matter. Our method solves hydrodynamical flow equations in one dimension with neutrino emission from weak equilibrating reactions, and strange quark diffusion across the burning front. We also include entropy change from heat released in forming the stable quark phase. Our numerical results suggest burning front laminar speeds of 0.002-0.04 times the speed of light, much faster than previous estimates derived using only a reactive-diffusive description. Analytic solutions to hydrodynamical jump conditions with a temperature-dependent equation of state agree very well with our numerical findings for fluid velocities. The most important effect of neutrino cooling is that the conversion front stalls at lower density (below {approx_equal}2 times saturation density). In a two-dimensional setting, such rapid speeds and neutrino cooling may allow for a flame wrinkle instability to develop, possibly leading to detonation.

• OSTI ID: 21499250
• Journal Information: Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics, Vol. 82, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.82.062801; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2813
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANALYTICAL SOLUTION
COLD NEUTRONS
COMBUSTION
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DENSITY
DIFFUSION
EMISSION
ENTROPY
EQUATIONS OF STATE
FLAMES
FLOW MODELS
HYDRODYNAMIC MODEL
NEUTRINOS
NUCLEAR MATTER
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
S QUARKS
SATURATION
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
VELOCITY
BARYONS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EQUATIONS
FERMIONS
HADRONS
LEPTONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
MATTER
NEUTRONS
NUCLEONS
OXIDATION
PARTICLE MODELS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
QUARKS
SIMULATION
STATISTICAL MODELS
STRANGE PARTICLES
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
THERMODYNAMIC MODEL
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES