Speaker
Description
Cold and dense matter can be explored in a systematic way both in the high-density (perturbative
QCD) and low-density (Chiral EFT) regime. However, the path connecting them is yet to be discov-
ered. As a result, these descriptions are usually extrapolated into the intermediate density regime
and then connected at some transition point. In this work I will present a model that has features
of both, but within a unified description. The model contains hadronic degrees of freedom and is
calibrated using nuclear matter properties; yet it exhibits a phase transition towards a “quark mat-
ter” phase that has approximately restored chiral symmetry, strangeness, and asymptotes to the
conformal limit of the speed of sound. While this model can describe different qualitative scenar-
ios regarding the phase transition and the strangeness onset, empirical constraints significantly
narrow down the allowed parameter range. Moreover, hybrid stars above two solar masses are
predicted, exhibiting a stiff “quark matter” core. This approach has implications for the hyperon
puzzle and is also crucial for future exploration of inhomogeneous phases and the surface tension
between hadron and quark phases.
