should lie at the heart of neutron stars, conclude two MIT theorists. It has long been thought that, in the exotic high-density environment within a neutron star, equal numbers of “up” and “down” quarks (with respective charges of + e and − e) dominate, with a small admixture of “strange” quarks (− e). The quark matter would thus have an overall positive charge and would draw electrons into it. Now, however, Krishna Rajagopal and Frank Wilczek have demonstrated that all three quark varieties will coexist in equal numbers in such an environment, meaning that the material is an electrically neutral insulator, free of electrons. Two consequences are that a neutron star’s core would be unable to anchor magnetic fields and that the time distribution of neutrinos from a supernova could be altered. (K. Rajagopal, F. Wilczek, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86,...
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
1 June 2001
June 01 2001
Citation
Philip F. Schewe; Electrically Neutral Quark Matter. Physics Today 1 June 2001; 54 (6): 9. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4796386
Download citation file:
PERSONAL SUBSCRIPTION
Purchase an annual subscription for $25. A subscription grants you access to all of Physics Today's current and backfile content.
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
20
Views
Citing articles via
The no-cloning theorem
William K. Wootters; Wojciech H. Zurek
Dense crowds follow their own rules
Johanna L. Miller
Focus on software, data acquisition, and instrumentation
Andreas Mandelis