Quark star

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A quark star is a hypothetical type of compact exotic star, where extremely high temperature and pressure has forced nuclear particles to form a continuous state of matter that consists primarily of free quarks.

It is well known that massive stars can collapse to form neutron stars, under extreme temperatures and pressures. In simple terms, neutrons usually have space separating them due to degeneracy pressure keeping them apart. Under extreme conditions such as a neutron star, the pressure separating nucleons is overwhelmed by gravity, and the separation between them breaks down, causing them to be packed extremely densely and form an immensely hot and dense state known as neutron matter, where they are only held apart by the strong interaction. Because these neutrons are made of quarks, it is hypothesized that under even more extreme conditions, the degeneracy pressure keeping the quarks apart within the neutrons might break down in much the same way, creating an ultra-dense phase of degenerate matter based on densely packed quarks. This is seen as plausible, but is very hard to prove, as scientists cannot easily create the conditions needed to investigate the properties of quark matter, so it is unknown whether this actually occurs.

If quark stars can form, then the most likely place to find quark star matter would be inside neutron stars that exceed the internal pressure needed for quark degeneracy - the point at which neutrons (which are formed from quarks bound together) break down into a form of dense quark matter. They could also form if a massive star collapses at the end of its life, provided that it is possible for a star to be large enough to collapse beyond a neutron star but not large enough to form a black hole. However, as scientists are unable so far to explore most properties of quark matter, the exact conditions and nature of quark stars, and their existence, remain hypothetical and unproven. The question whether such stars exist and their exact structure and behavior is actively studied within astrophysics and particle physics.

If they exist, quark stars would resemble and be easily mistaken for neutron stars: they would form in the death of a massive star in a Type II supernova, they would be extremely dense and small, and possess a very high gravitational field. They would also lack some features of neutron stars, unless they also contained a shell of neutron matter, because free quarks are not expected to have properties matching degenerate neutron matter. For example, they might be radio-silent, or not have typical size, electromagnetic, or temperature measurements, compared to other neutron stars.

The hypothesis about quark stars was first proposed in 1965 by Soviet physicists D. D. Ivanenko and D. F. Kurdgelaidze.[1][2] Their existence has not been confirmed. The equation of state of quark matter is uncertain, as is the transition point between neutron-degenerate matter and quark matter. Theoretical uncertainties have precluded making predictions from first principles. Experimentally, the behaviour of quark matter is being actively studied with particle colliders, but this can only produce very hot (above 1012 K) quark-gluon plasma blobs the size of atomic nuclei, which decay immediately after formation. The conditions inside compact stars with extremely high densities and temperatures well below 1012 K can not be recreated artificially, so there are no known methods to produce, store or study "cold" quark matter directly as it would be found inside quark stars. The theory predicts quark matter to possess some peculiar characteristics under these conditions.



Stability and strange quark matter[edit]

Ordinary quark matter consisting of up and down quarks (also referred to as u and d quarks) has a very high Fermi energy compared to ordinary atomic matter and is only stable under extreme temperatures and/or pressures. This suggests that the only stable quark stars will be neutron stars with a quark matter core, while quark stars consisting entirely of ordinary quark matter will be highly unstable and dissolve spontaneously.[5][6]


Strange stars[edit]


Theoretical investigations have revealed that quark stars might not only be produced from neutron stars and powerful supernovas, they could also be created in the early cosmic phase separations following the Big Bang.[5] If these primordial quark stars transform into strange quark matter before the external temperature and pressure conditions of the early Universe makes them unstable, they might turn out stable, if the Bodmer–Witten assumption holds true. Such primordial strange stars could survive to this day.[5]


Quark stars have some special characteristics that separate them from ordinary neutron stars.

Under the physical conditions found inside neutron stars, with extremely high densities but temperatures well below 1012 K, quark matter is predicted to exhibit some peculiar characteristics. It is expected to behave as a Fermi liquid and enter a so-called color-flavor-locked (CFL) phase of color superconductivity, where "color" refers to the six "charges" exhibited in the strong interaction, instead of the positive and the negative charges in electromagnetism. At slightly lower densities, corresponding to higher layers closer to the surface of the compact star, the quark matter will behave as a non-CFL quark liquid, a phase that is even more mysterious than CFL and might include color conductivity and/or several additional yet undiscovered phases. None of these extreme conditions can currently be recreated in laboratories so nothing can be inferred about these phases from direct experiments.[8]


Observed overdense neutron stars[edit]

At least under the assumptions mentioned above, the probability of a given neutron star being a quark star is low,[citation needed] so in the Milky Way there would only be a small population of quark stars. If it is correct however, that overdense neutron stars can turn into quark stars, that makes the possible number of quark stars higher than was originally thought, as observers would be looking for the wrong type of star.[citation needed]

Quark stars and strange stars are entirely hypothetical as of 2018, but there are several candidates.

Observations released by the Chandra X-ray Observatory on April 10, 2002 detected two possible quark stars, designated RX J1856.5-3754 and 3C58, which had previously been thought to be neutron stars. Based on the known laws of physics, the former appeared much smaller and the latter much colder than it should be, suggesting that they are composed of material denser than neutron-degenerate matter. However, these observations are met with skepticism by researchers who say the results were not conclusive;[9] and since the late 2000s, the possibility that RX J1856 is a quark star has been excluded.

Another star, XTE J1739-285,[10] has been observed by a team led by Philip Kaaret of the University of Iowa and reported as a possible quark star candidate.


It was reported in 2008 that observations of supernovae SN2006gy, SN2005gj and SN2005ap also suggest the existence of quark stars.[12] It has been suggested that the collapsed core of supernova SN1987A may be a quark star.[13][14]

In 2015, Z.G. Dai et al. from Nanjing University suggested that Supernova ASASSN-15lh is a newborn strange quark star.[15]

Other theorized quark formations[edit]

Apart from ordinary quark matter and strange quark matter, other types of quark-gluon plasma might theoretically occur or be formed inside neutron stars and quark stars. This includes the following, some of which has been observed and studied in laboratories:

  • Ө++ and antiparticle Ө−−.
  • Charmed pentaquark Өc(3100) (uuddc) state was detected by the H1 collaboration.[16]

See also[edit]

Sources and further reading[edit]

  • Blaschke, David and Sedrakian, David: "Superdense QCD Matter and Compact Stars", NATO Science Series, Springer (2003)
  • Blaschke, David., Glendenning, Norman K. and Sedrakian, A.: "Physics of neutron star interiors", Lecture Notes in Physics (Vol. 578), Springer (2001)
  • Plessas, W. and Mathelitsch, L. (Leopold): "Lectures on quark matter", Lecture Notes in Physics (Vol. 583), Springer (2002)


  1. ^ D. D. Ivanenko; D. F. Kurdgelaidze (1965). "Hypothesis concerning quark stars". Astrophysics. 1 (4): 251–252. Bibcode:1965Ap......1..251I. doi:10.1007/BF01042830. 
  2. ^ D. D. Ivanenko; D. F. Kurdgelaidze (1969). "Remarks on quark stars". Lettere al Nuovo Cimento. 2: 13–16. Bibcode:1969NCimL...2...13I. doi:10.1007/BF02753988. 
  3. ^ Shapiro and Teukolsky: Black Holes, White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars: The Physics of Compact Objects, Wiley 2008
  4. ^ Blaschke et.al "Physics of neutron star interiors"
  5. ^ a b c d Witten, Edward (1984). "Cosmic separation of phases". Physical Review D. 30 (2): 272–285. Bibcode:1984PhRvD..30..272W. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.30.272. 
  6. ^ E. Farhi; R. L. Jaffe (1984). "Strange matter". Physical Review D. 30 (11): 2379. Bibcode:1984PhRvD..30.2379F. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.30.2379. 
  7. ^ a b Fridolin Weber; et al. (1994). "Strange-matter Stars". Proceedings: Strangeness and Quark Matter. 
  8. ^ Alford, Mark G.; Schmitt, Andreas; Rajagopal, Krishna; Schäfer, Thomas (2008). "Color superconductivity in dense quark matter". Reviews of Modern Physics. 80 (4): 1455–1515. arXiv:0709.4635Freely accessible. Bibcode:2008RvMP...80.1455A. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.80.1455. 
  9. ^ Truemper, J. E.; Burwitz, V.; Haberl, F.; Zavlin, V. E. (June 2004). "The puzzles of RX J1856.5-3754: neutron star or quark star?". Nuclear Physics B: Proceedings Supplements. 132: 560–565. arXiv:astro-ph/0312600Freely accessible. Bibcode:2004NuPhS.132..560T. CiteSeerX accessible. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2004.04.094. 
  10. ^ Fastest spinning star may have exotic heart
  11. ^ Yue, Y. L.; Cui, X. H.; Xu, R. X. (2006). "Is PSR B0943+10 a low-mass quark star?". Astrophys.j. 649 (2): L95–L98. arXiv:astro-ph/0603468Freely accessible. doi:10.1086/508421. 
  12. ^ Astronomy Now Online – Second Supernovae Point to Quark Stars
  13. ^ Chan; Cheng; Harko; Lau; Lin; Suen; Tian (2009). "Could the compact remnant of SN 1987A be a quark star?". Astrophysical Journal. 695 (1): 732–746. arXiv:0902.0653Freely accessible. Bibcode:2009ApJ...695..732C. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/695/1/732. 
  14. ^ Quark star may hold secret to early universe New Scientist
  15. ^ Dai, Z. G.; Wang, S. Q.; Wang, J. S.; Wang, L. J.; Yu, Y. W. (2015-08-31). "The Most Luminous Supernova ASASSN-15lh: Signature of a Newborn Rapidly-Rotating Strange Quark Star". The Astrophysical Journal. 817 (2): 132. arXiv:1508.07745Freely accessible [astro-ph]. Bibcode:2016ApJ...817..132D. doi:10.3847/0004-637X/817/2/132. 
  16. ^ H1 Collaboration; Aktas, A.; Andreev, V.; Anthonis, T.; Asmone, A.; Babaev, A.; Backovic, S.; Bähr, J.; et al. (2004). "Evidence for a Narrow Anti-Charmed Baryon State of mass". Physics Letters B. 588 (1–2): 17–28. arXiv:hep-ex/0403017Freely accessible. Bibcode:2004PhLB..588...17A. doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2004.03.012. 
  17. ^ Brian Koberlein (April 10, 2014). "How CERN's Discovery of Exotic Particles May Affect Astrophysics". Universe Today. Retrieved 14 April 2014. /

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