University of Helsinki | 2016 Aug 01
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 ...
Cool Quark Matter - Aleksi Kurkela, Aleksi Vuorinen
- Physical Review Letters 117:042501 (20 July 2016) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.042501
- arXiv.org > hep-ph > arXiv:1603.00750 > 02 Mar 2016 (v1), 26 Jul 2016 (v2)