Speaker
Description
We investigate the stability of beta-equilibrated three-flavor color-superconducting quark matter within the Nambu–Jona–Lasinio model under conditions relevant to compact stars. Owing to the attractive interaction between quarks, color superconductivity is expected to occur, with the color–flavor-locked phase favored at high densities. Motivated by the observations of possible low-mass self-bound compact stars, we systematically explore the model parameter space and identify the conditions under which three-flavor color-superconducting quark matter becomes absolutely stable at zero pressure. Our findings suggest the existence of a physically viable region of parameter space in which this phase constitutes the true ground state of strongly interacting matter, thereby supporting the scenario of self-bound color-superconducting quark stars.