Recent discoveries in astronomy and relativistic astrophysics as well as experiments on particle and nuclear physics have blurred the traditional boundaries of physics. It is believed that at the birth of the Universe, a whirlwind of matter and antimatter, of quarks and exotic leptons, briefly appeared and merged into a sea of energy. The new phenomena and new states of matter in the Universe revealed the deep connection between quarks and the Cosmos. Motivated by these themes, this book discusses different topics: gravitational waves, dark matter, dark energy, exotic contents of compact stars, high-energy and gamma-ray astrophysics, heavy ion collisions and the formation of the quark–gluon plasma in the early Universe. The book presents some of the latest researches on these fascinating themes and is useful for experts and students in the field.
Author(s): Cesar Augusto Zen Vasconcellos, Peter Otto Hess, Thomas Boller
Publisher: World Scientific
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 374
City: Singapore
Cover
Title page
Copyright
Dedication
Foreword
Preface
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1. Cosmological Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background
1. Introduction
2. Inflation and Gravitational Waves
2.1. Pre-inflationary gravitational waves
3. Gravitational Waves from a Cyclic Universe
4. Gravitational Waves from the Electroweak Phase Transition
4.1. Thermodynamics of the EW transition
4.2. Generation of gravitational waves
5. Gravitational Waves from the QCD Phase Transition
5.1. Thermodynamics of the QCD phase transition
5.2. Generation of gravitational waves
5.3. A “crossover” QCD transition?
6. Detection Techniques
6.1. Detectors
6.2. Comparison with theoretical predictions
7. Final Considerations
Bibliography
2. Neutrino Flavor Oscillations in Gamma-Ray Bursts
1. Introduction
2. Hydrodynamics
2.1. Units, velocities and averaging
2.2. Conservation laws
2.3. Equations of state
3. Equations of Oscillation
4. Initial Conditions and Integration
5. Results and Analysis
6. Concluding Remarks
A. Appendix
A.1. Transformations and stress–energy tensor
A.2. Neutrino interactions and cross-sections
A.2.1. Neutrino emissivities
A.2.2. Cross-sections
A.3. Neutrino–anti-neutrino pair annihilation
Bibliography
3. Gamma-Rays and the New Multi-messenger Astrophysics
1. Introduction
2. The Crab Anniversary
2.1. The success of the imaging atmospheric technique
3. The First Gamma-ray Bursts at sub-TeV Energies
3.1. Late-afterglow GRB detections by H.E.S.S.
3.2. Early-afterglow detection of GRB 190114C
3.3. The short Gamma-ray burst GRB 160821B
4. The Era of Multi-messenger Astrophysics
4.1. Blazars as potential counterparts to VHE neutrinos
4.2. Gravitational wave follow-ups
5. The Roaring Twenties
5.1. The Cherenkov Telescope Array
5.2. Coming of age of wide-field facilities
5.3. Mapping the sky with HAWC
5.4. The upcoming LHAASO observatory
5.5. SWGO: A southern wide-field gamma-ray observatory
6. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
4. Dark Matter and Dark Energy vs. Modified Gravity: An Appraisal
1. Introduction
2. Ontological Preliminaries
3. Dark Matter
3.1. Observational evidence
3.2. Theoretical constraints
3.3. Dark matter candidates
3.4. Current limits
3.5. Observational evidence against dark matter
4. Dark Energy
4.1. Observational support
4.2. Vacuum energy density and the cosmological constant
4.3. Candidates for dark energy
4.3.1. Quintessence
4.3.2. k-essence
4.3.3. Unified models of dark energy and dark matter: The Generalized Chaplygin gas model
4.4. Current limits
5. Alternative Theories of Gravitation
5.1. The landscape of modified gravity theories
5.1.1. Scalar–Tensor–Vector Gravity
5.1.2. f(R)-gravity
5.2. Theoretical challenges
5.2.1. Scalar–Tensor–Vector Gravity
5.2.2. f(R)-gravity
6. Final Remarks
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
5. Hot Neutron Star Matter and Proto-neutron Stars
1. Introduction
2. Modeling Hot and Dense Neutron Star Matter
2.1. The nonlinear nuclear Lagrangian
2.2. Baryonic field theory at finite density and temperature
3. Composition and EOS of Hot and Dense (Proto-) Neutron Star Matter
3.1. Leptons and neutrinos
3.2. Chemical equilibrium and electric charge neutrality
3.3. Composition of hot and dense matter
4. The Hadron–Quark Phase Transition
5. The Parameters of the Hadronic Theory
5.1. The meson–hyperon coupling space
5.2. Δ(1232) isobars
5.3. The meson–Δ(1232) coupling spaces
5.3.1. The σωΔ coupling space
5.3.2. The xρΔ coupling
6. General Relativistic Stellar Structure Equations
6.1. Non-rotating proto-neutron stars
6.2. Rotating proto-neutron stars
6.2.1. The general relativistic Kepler frequency
6.2.2. Gravitational radiation–reaction-driven instabilities
6.3. The moment of inertia
7. Future Directions of Research
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
6. Review on the Pseudo-complex General Relativity and Dark Energy
1. Introduction
2. Pseudo-complex General Relativity (pc-GR)
3. Applications
3.1. Motion of a particle in a circular orbit
3.2. Accretion disks
3.3. Gravitational waves in pc-GR
3.4. Dark energy in the universe
3.5. Interior of stars
4. Conclusions
Acknowledgment
Bibliography
7. Alternative Gravity Neutron Stars in the Gravitational Wave Era
1. Introduction
2. Alternative Gravity Theories
2.1. Geometric trinity of gravity
2.1.1. Curvature theories
2.1.2. Torsion theories
2.1.3. Non-metricity theories
3. Stellar Equilibrium Configurations
4. Gravitational Wave Constraints
5. Discussion and Perspectives
Acknowledgment
Bibliography
8. Quark Deconfinement in Compact Stars Through Sexaquark Condensation
1. Introduction
2. Bose-Einstein Condensation of Sexaquarks as a Trigger for Strange Quark Matter in Compact Stars
3. Density Functional Approach to Strange Quark Matter Deconfinement
4. Conclusions
Acknowledgement
Bibliography
