Formation of color superconducting quark matter in supernovae and protoneutron stars

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The study of the properties of strongly interacting matter at finite density is the main subject of this project. In the last years a huge effort has been done to predict the structure of the QCD phase diagram at large densities with the result that different color superconducting phases can take place depending on the temperature and the baryonic chemical potential. If a color superconducting phase is really realised in Nature the only place in which it can be formed is the core of neutron stars where densities of order of ten times the nuclear matter saturation density are reached. The formation process of the color superconducting matter should occur during the collapse of the core of massive stars triggered by the increase of the central density of the star or during the cooling, by neutrino emission, of the newly born neutron stars. The dynamics of the collapse and the diffusion process and luminosity of neutrinos could be strongly influenced if color superconducting phases are formed during the early stages of the life of a compact star. The goal of this project is to provide possible signatures of the formation of quark phases in protoneutron stars which could be tested by the present neutrino detectors in the next core collapse supernova events in our galaxy (or in the local group of galaxies with the new generation of neutrino detectors planned).