Posted on 08/02/2016 8:05:32 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Do neutron stars contain exotic matter in the form of dense deconfined quark matter? Scientists performed the first accurate determination of the thermodynamic properties of dense quark matter under violent conditions that occur during neutron star mergers, and suggest a step towards distinguishing between neutron and quark matter cores in neutron stars. The recent detection of gravitational waves emitted by two merging black holes by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations has opened up a new observational window into the cosmos.
Future observations of similar mergers between two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole may revolutionize what we know today about the properties of neutron stars, the densest stellar objects in the universe. By providing detailed dynamical information about the material properties of these stars, such measurements will shed light on their internal composition.
- Ultimately, they may answer the question, whether neutron stars are composed solely of ordinary atomic nuclei, or if they contain more exotic matter in the form of dense deconfined quark matter, says physicist Aleksi Vuorinen at the University of Helsinki.
TOWARDS ACCURATE THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING, AS WELL In order to be able to properly take advantage of the future observational data, it is essential that our theoretical understanding of the possible constituents of neutron star matter - dense nuclear and quark matter - be as accurate as possible.
This is, however, an extremely challenging problem, as few first principle tools exist for studying such a strongly interacting medium due to the complexity of the underlying microscopic theory, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). The most important tools available for such studies are so-called chiral effective theories for the nuclear interactions, applicable for nuclear matter, and thermal perturbation theory, applicable for deconfined quark matter.
(Excerpt) Read more at helsinki.fi ...
This may be the golden age of particle physics discoveries.
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Never heard the term “quark matter”
Very difficult but interesting stuff.
Waiting for the physicists to weigh in... Love this stuff when explained to lay people like me.
I always enjoyed physics, but my career has been as an electrical engineer.
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It's a fairly simple idea, I think, predicated on the kinetic energy of the constituent particles, i.e. the temperature.
Neutrons and protons are bound states of quarks, but if the temperature is high enough, these bound states can be broken so that we have a "quark plasma", directly analgous to an "atomic plasma" i.e. a "plasma" as we usually refer to it, where the high temperature causes the atoms to dissociate into electrons and ions.
ExoticQuarksMatter
We can really run this meme into the ground.
When physicists celebrate, do they pop there quarks?
Okay I’ll stop now.
Their
Thanks for the explanation dr_lew.
Hi dr_lew,
From the article: neutron stars, the densest stellar objects in the universe.
Is there some qualifier there that makes neutron stars more dense than black holes?
Thanks in advance.
OK. I’m out of my league :)
Beginner’s book suggestion?
I think maybe the “qualifier” here is that the black hole is “infinitely dense”, being a singularity. If we use the event horizon as a radius, we get a very wide deviation in the “density”. I believe it is popularly concieved that the universe itself is a black hole, within which we live, and that the observed event horizon of universal expansion is its radius. In this case the “infinite density” would have to refer to the moment of origin of the universe. Because, after all, the black hole is a concept of space-time, and not to be thought of as any kind of spatial object which exists statically in time.
... that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
Fair enough. Thanks!
Thanks. :)
Anyone read something lats year about a particle affecting another particle even though they were tremendous distances apart?
Sorry, that’s the best I could word it.
Thanks for posting... I love neutron stars! They have some weird and scary properties. Such as... If you fell off your barstool on a neutron star, you’d hit the floor at more than a million miles per hour... The magnetic fields are so great, they’d rip the iron right out of your blood (and body) from thousands of miles away... the energy density of the magnetic fields on some neutron stars is more than that of lead (so that THE EMPTY SPACE around the star weighs more than lead)... etc.
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