Quark-nova
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A quark-nova is a type of nova that theoretically can occur when a neutron star spontaneously collapses to become a quark star.
A quark star is formed from a neutron star through a process known as quark deconfinement. It is this process that produces the quark nova. The resultant star should have free quarks in its interior. The deconfinement process should release immense amounts of energy, perhaps being the most energetic explosions in the universe. Quark-novae may be an explanation for very short duration gamma ray bursts.
Neutron stars with masses of 1.5–1.8 solar masses with rapid spin are theoretically the best candidates for conversion. This amounts to 1% of the projected neutron star population. An extrapolation based on this indicates that up to 2 quark-novae may occur in the observable universe each day.
Theoretically quark stars may 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 possible existence.[1]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Quark Stars Could Produce Biggest Bang (SpaceDaily) Jun 7, 2006
- Meissner Effect in Quark Stars (University of Calgary)
[edit] See also
- quark star
- quark matter
- quark-degenerate matter
- quark de-confinement
- deconfinement
- radio quiet neutron stars
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