Transition to Quark Matter and long Gamma Ray Bursts

Abstract

The energy released by the inner engine of GRBs can originate from structural readjustments inside a compact star. In particular, the formation of deconfined quark matter can liberate enough energy to power the burst. We show that the burning of a neutron star into a quark star likely proceeds as a deflagration and not as a detonation. In that way no strong baryon contamination is produced near the surface of the star. It is tempting to associate the temporal structures observed in the light curves with specific processes taking place inside the compact star. The so-called quiescent times, during which no signal is emitted in the highest energy band, correspond to pauses during the processes of readjustment. If the quark (or hybrid) star formed after these transformations is strongly magnetized and rotates rapidly, a prolonged gamma emission can be produced, as proposed by Usov years ago. This can explain the quasi-plateau observed by Swift in several GRBs.