I gather that a hypothetical quark star would consist of disassociated quarks instead of triplets composing neutrons.mathman said:What is the distinction between a quark star and a neutron star? Neutrons are made of quarks.
As rootone stated, the form of matter is different. Instead of just a bunch of neutrons, it'd be sort of like a single giant nucleon consisting of huge numbers of quarks. It would be a hypothetical intermediate stage between a neutron star and a black hole.mathman said:What is the distinction between a quark star and a neutron star? Neutrons are made of quarks.
According to the models, quark matter is more stable at any pressure.fzero said:Quark stars and quark matter are hypothetical, but I'm unaware of any strong objections to the possibility that they could exist. Quark matter would exist at extremely high temperatures and pressure, where the quarks are asymptotically free, so there is no reason for them to assemble into neutrons. It would be like shoving a huge amount of quark-gluon plasma into a small volume. If some quark matter were ejected from the implosion of a quark star, the ejected components would not necessarily be at the pressure required to remain quark matter and would probably stablize as ordinary matter.
Chalnoth said:According to the models, quark matter is more stable at any pressure.
Chalnoth said:According to the models, quark matter is more stable at any pressure.
Here's a review:PeterDonis said:But at low temperatures, quarks are not asymptotically free; wouldn't they form hadrons? Certainly that happens to quarks inside accelerators like the LHC when they are ejected from collisions--that's how quarks are spotted, by the hadron jets they produce.
Chalnoth said:Here's a review:
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0407155
Quark stars are thought to be extremely rare in the universe because they are only formed through very specific and rare conditions. They require a specific range of mass and density in order to undergo a process called quark deconfinement, where the protons and neutrons in the core of a neutron star break down into their constituent quarks. This process is only possible in the extreme conditions found in the core of a neutron star, and not all neutron stars have the right mass and density to undergo this transformation.
Currently, there is no confirmed detection of a quark star in the universe. This is because they are extremely small and dense, making them difficult to detect even with advanced telescopes. However, there have been some observations that suggest the existence of quark stars, such as the rapid rotation of some neutron stars, which could be explained by the formation of a quark star.
Quark stars and neutron stars are both extremely dense and compact objects that are formed from the remnants of a supernova explosion. However, quark stars are thought to be even denser than neutron stars, as they are made up of quarks instead of just neutrons. Quark stars also have a much smaller radius than neutron stars, making them even more difficult to detect.
It is highly unlikely that a quark star could support life as we know it. Due to their high density and extreme conditions, the surface of a quark star would be highly unstable and inhospitable. Additionally, the intense radiation and magnetic fields surrounding a quark star would make it impossible for any form of life to survive.
Despite the challenges in detecting and studying quark stars, they are still valuable objects for research. Studying quark stars can provide insight into the fundamental properties of matter and the extreme conditions that exist in the cores of these objects. This knowledge can also help us better understand neutron stars and other compact objects in the universe.