Supermassive Neutron Stars Rule Out Twin Stars

We investigate the implications of a hypothetical 2.5 M-circle dot neutron star in regard to the possibility of a first order phase transition to quark matter. We use equations of state (EoS) of varying stiffness provided by a parametrizable relativistic mean field model transitioning to a constant speed of sound EoS. We find a strong connection between the discontinuity in energy density and the maximal neutron star mass. We demonstrate, that high maximal masses cannot be realized for large discontinuities. As a result visible mass gaps, i.e., twin stars, and masses of M-max greater than or similar to 2.2 M-circle dot are mutually exclusive.