Quark-nova
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Quark-nova
A quark-nova is a hypothetical type of supernova that could occur if a neutron star spontaneously collapsed to become a quark star. The concept of quark-novae was suggested by Dr. Rachid Ouyed[1] (University of Calgary, Canada) and Drs. Dey and Dey (Calcutta University, India). The quark-nova hypothesis has been mentioned in various publications.[2]
When a neutron star spins down, it could convert to a quark star through a process known as quark deconfinement. The resultant star would have quark matter in its interior. The process would release immense amounts of energy, perhaps explaining the most energetic explosions in the universe; rough calculations have estimated that as much as 1047 J could be released from the phase transition inside a neutron star.[3] Quark-novae may be one cause of gamma ray bursts. According to Jaikumar et al.,[4] they may also be involved in producing heavy elements such as platinum through r-process nucleosynthesis.
Rapidly spinning neutron stars with masses between 1.5 and 1.8 solar masses are theoretically the best candidates for conversion due to spin down of the star within a Hubble time. This amounts to a small fraction of the projected neutron star population. A conservative estimate based on this indicates that up to two quark-novae may occur in the observable universe each day.
Theoretically, quark stars would be radio-quiet, so radio-quiet neutron stars may be quark stars.
Direct evidence for quark-novae is scant; however, recent observations of supernovae SN2006gy, SN2005gj and SN2005ap may point to their existence.[5][6]
References
- ^ "Rachid Ouyed's webpage". http://www.capca.ucalgary.ca/. Retrieved 29 June 2008.
- ^ "International News on the Quark-Nova". http://www.capca.ucalgary.ca/~rouyed/news.html. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
- ^ "Theories of Quark-novae". http://www.citebase.org/abstract?id=oai%3AarXiv.org%3Aastro-ph%2F0105109. Retrieved 29 June 2008.
- ^ Prashanth Jaikumar; Meyer; Kaori Otsuki; Rachid Ouyed (2007). "Nucleosynthesis in neutron-rich ejecta from Quark-Novae". Astronomy and Astrophysics 471: 227–236. arXiv:nucl-th/0610013. Bibcode 2007A&A...471..227J. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066593.
- ^ Astronomy Now Online - Second Supernovae Point to Quark Stars
- ^ Leahy, Denis; Ouyed, Rachid (2008). "Supernova SN2006gy as a first ever Quark Nova?". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 387 (3): 1193. Bibcode 2008MNRAS.387.1193L. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13312.x.
External links
- Quark Stars Could Produce Biggest Bang (SpaceDaily) Jun 7, 2006
- Meissner Effect in Quark Stars (University of Calgary)
See also
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
This physics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This astronomy-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This variable star–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
Wikipedia on Answers.com
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Quark-nova.
Read more