Single-flavour and two-flavour pairing in three-flavour quark matter

Alford, M.G. and Cowan, G.A. (2006) Single-flavour and two-flavour pairing in three-flavour quark matter. Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, 32, pp. 511-528. (doi: 10.1088/0954-3899/32/4/009)

Abstract

We study single-flavour quark pairing ('self-pairing') in colour-superconducting phases of quark matter, paying particular attention to the difference between scenarios where all three flavours undergo single-flavour pairing, and scenarios where two flavours pair with each other ('2SC' pairing) and the remaining flavour self-pairs. We perform our calculations in the mean-field approximation using a pointlike four-fermion interaction based on single gluon exchange. We confirm the result from previous weakly-coupled-QCD calculations that when all three flavours self-pair the favoured channel for each is colour-spin-locked (CSL) pseudoisotropic pairing. However, we find that when the up and down quarks undergo 2SC pairing, they induce a colour chemical potential that disfavours the CSL phase. The strange quarks then self-pair in a 'polar' channel that breaks rotational invariance, although the CSL phase may survive in a narrow range of densities.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: UNSPECIFIED
• Authors: Alford, M.G., and Cowan, G.A.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics
• ISSN: 0954-3899