Inside neutron stars It has been a mystery since its discovery. They are known to be the remnants of the collapse of a massive supergiant star that ran out of fuel in its core to support itself. included. It is also described that they denser objects which are known in the universe. In fact, although they may have several times the mass of the sun, its size may be about the size of a not too big city. Therefore, we can visualize them as a ball of high density, but what is inside this ball? This is a question that a group of scientists from Goethe University (Frankfurt), whose results point to something as sweet as chocolate.
It’s actually a metaphor, but it helps to understand it. And that’s what they saw to be two types of neutron stars. Some have a hard core and a soft mantle, while others have a soft core and a hard mantle. So the first one is like pralineswith dried fruits inside, surrounded by much softer chocolate, and the latter, as a rule, creamy center surrounded by more compact chocolate.
This does not mean that they already know everything about the interior of neutron stars. However, they have more information than other scientists before the publication of their study, in Letters from an astrophysical journal.
Two types of neutron stars
Prior to conducting their research, these scientists knew that there were two types of neutron stars. Nail heavywith a mass of more than 1.7 times that of our Sun, and others lightwith a mass less than this.
They might have expected their interior to be different, but they weren’t sure. So they started modeling equations of state two types of neutron stars. Equations of state are those equations that describe the aggregate state of matter in terms of data relating to parameters such as temperature, pressure, volume, internal energy, and density. Also, in this case they added the analysis Sound speed.
It is known that sound waves they move more or less quickly depending on the stiffness of the material they are moving through. In fact, on Earth, this parameter is used to search for underground oil pockets. For this reason, a PhD student at the Goethe University, Sinan Altiparmakhe thought it might be useful for analyzing neutron stars as well.
And it was. Thanks to this and simulation of more than a million equations of state, were able to describe these chocolate-like centers. Those with pralines, with dried fruit in the middle, will be light, and those with a creamy center will be heavy. But that’s not all.
Relevant data other than chocolate
Scientists now have a rough idea of interior of neutron stars. But they also know other facts. For example, they found that, regardless of their mass, it is highly likely that all neutron stars have more or less the same radius, about 12 kilometers. That is, there will be some especially dense ones.
On the other hand, as the lead author of the study explains, Dr. Christian Eckerhis extensive numerical study “allows not only to make predictions for the radii and maximum masses of neutron stars, but also to establish new limits of its deformability in binary systems. That is, it helps to establish “how much they distort each other with their gravitational fields“. In addition, he adds that “these ideas will be especially important for determining the unknown equation of state with future astronomical observations and the detection of merging stars using gravitational waves.”
In short, what they found is much more than a metaphor for types of chocolate. Though you have to admit that you might want to eat one right now.
Source: Hiper Textual
