I was discussion stars with a friend of mine when he mentioned strange stars. I had no idea what is was so when I got home later that day I researched it. At that time I thought he simply meant stars that were 'strange', but once I had researched I found that they were a certain type of dense star consisting of strange quarks. At this early point in time, I hadn't any knowledge of quarks, so I researched more. Afterwards I learned loads and loads of new things about quarks from various websites and a few articles. Despite all of my countless searching, I had not managed to find any information at all of how the strange quarks and matter had formed in the core. Make sense now?russ_watters said:You need to give us more than that for us to help you: where are you reading about "strange matter"? Please provide references. Needless to say it seems odd that you say you can't find books, sites or forums discussing it, yet obviously you are asking about it here because you heard of it *somewhere*. So where did you hear about it?
But where did you find this? Wikipedia? Arxiv? Some website somewhere? Can you provide links?LachyP said:but once I had researched I found that they were ...
I found some quick information here http://www.universetoday.com/70111/astronomy-without-a-telescope-strange-stars/ , another tiny amount here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_star and a few others that didn't really give me much information. These are my sources but yet neither of them goes into detail of as to how these strange quarks had come about. That is why I wrote this thread..Nugatory said:But where did you find this? Wikipedia? Arxiv? Some website somewhere? Can you provide links?
A strange star is a hypothetical type of star that is composed primarily of strange matter, a type of matter made up of strange quarks. Strange stars are thought to exist as a result of extreme conditions in the core of neutron stars, where the density and pressure are high enough to form strange matter.
Strange quarks are one of six types of quarks, which are subatomic particles that make up protons and neutrons. Strange quarks are heavier and more unstable than the up and down quarks that make up most ordinary matter. They are called "strange" because they were first observed in cosmic rays and were unlike any other particles known at the time.
Strange quarks are thought to be formed in strange stars through a process called strangeness catalysis. This occurs when the extreme density and pressure in the core of a neutron star causes the conversion of up and down quarks into strange quarks, creating a sea of strange matter. This process is still not fully understood and is an active area of research in astrophysics.
Strange stars are predicted to have unique properties due to their composition of strange matter. They are thought to be extremely dense, with a higher mass-to-size ratio than neutron stars, and have a maximum mass limit that is larger than that of neutron stars. They may also have a different cooling mechanism, which could make them detectable through their thermal emissions.
While strange stars are still a theoretical concept, there is evidence to suggest that they could exist in the universe. Some pulsars, which are rapidly rotating neutron stars, have been observed to have properties that could be explained by the presence of strange matter in their cores. However, more research and observations are needed to confirm the existence of strange stars.