Speaker
Description
Massive pulsar observations indicate that compact stars' central densities can significantly surpass nuclear saturation densities, which could lead to the formation of exotic matter such as quark matter, meson condensates, and hyperons. One important contender among meson condensates, anti-kaon ($K^-$) condensation, is not well understood in terms of kaon-meson interactions. We refine previous quark model approaches by calculating hadronic couplings in the mesonic sector using SU(3) flavor symmetry. The symmetric-antisymmetric weight factor ($\alpha_v$), octet-to-singlet coupling ratio ($z$), and mixing angle ($\theta_v$) are identified as key parameters, with $\alpha_v$ being considered as a free parameter. According to our findings, greater $\alpha_v$ values increase neutron star masses, delay $K^-$ condensation, and stiffen the equation of state. The onset of $K^-$ condensation is extremely sensitive to $\alpha_v$ and happens through a second-order phase transition.
