Appearance of a quark matter phase in hybrid stars

The appearance of quark matter in the core of hybrid stars is a fundamental issue in such compact stars. The central density of these stars is sufficiently high such that nuclear matter undergoes a further change into other exotic phases that consist of hyperons and quarks. However, the equation of state (EOS) for the high-density matter is still not clear and several recent observations have indicated the limitations of the EOSs; theoretical studies should try to elucidate the EOSs. It is believed that the inner regions of the stars should consist of a mixed hadron-quark phase. We study the mixed hadron-quark phase, taking into account finite-size effects, and find that that the mixed phase should be restricted to a narrower region. Therefore, a quark matter phase should appear in the central region.