Neutron Stars as Probes for the Structure of Dense Nuclear Matter

中子星作为探测致密核物质结构的探针Fridolin Weber，San Diego州立大学，San Diego，California中子星包含宇宙中发现的一种致密形式的物质（充满这种物质的顶针将具有十亿吨的质量），这与观测天文学前所未有的进步一起，使这些恒星成为广泛的迷人的物理研究的极好的天体物理学实验室。这包括在一个富含电子和中子的天体中探索核过程，以及在这些天体的核心中形成新的物质状态，比如在最强大的地面粒子对撞机上寻找的夸克和胶子等离子体。这个由美国国家科学基金会支持的研究项目旨在从观测到的中子星星数据中探索这种过程。它分为两个主要的活动，第一个活动涉及X射线中子星从伴星吸积物质。这样的中子星每秒通常会吸积数百万吨的物质，这些物质以光速的一个重要部分撞击恒星表面。这导致了恒星表面的热核反应，其灰烬逐渐向内吸引，导致星星地壳的显著变化（例如核聚变反应）。这项活动的主要目标是探索这些热核反应对吸积中子星热演化的影响。第二项活动涉及我们对中子星超致密核心中实现的基础物理学的理解，在那里中子和质子可能被分解成它们的夸克成分，创造出一种称为夸克物质的新物质状态。如果中子星的核中存在夸克物质，它将是一种色超导体，其凝聚模式非常复杂。中子星实际上也可能是夸克星，完全由夸克物质构成的物体。在这项活动的框架内，将开展关于“中子”星中夸克物质存在的潜在天体物理特征的研究。这些研究活动对于获得杰斐逊实验室在天体物理探测器、相对论重离子对撞机（RHIC）、以及为稀有同位素加速器（RIA）推荐的新投资。参与该项目的研究人员和学生将开发多个-关于明星如何工作的媒体讲座，并将其介绍给圣地亚哥地区的中学生和教师。

Neutron Stars as Probes for the Structure of Dense Nuclear MatterFridolin Weber, San Diego State University, San Diego, CaliforniaNeutron stars contain matter in one of the densest forms found in theUniverse (a thimble full of such matter would have a mass of onebillion tons) which, together with the unprecedented progress inobservational astronomy, makes such stars superb astrophysicallaboratories for a broad range of fascinating physical studies. Theseinclude the exploration of nuclear processes in an environmentextremely rich of electrons and neutrons, and the formation of newstates of matter in the cores of such objects, like a plasma of quarksand gluons which is being sought at the most powerful terrestrialparticle colliders. This NSF supported research project aims atexploring such processes from observed neutron star data. It isdivided into two major activities.The first activity deals with X-ray neutron stars accreting matterfrom companions. Such neutron stars accrete typically many millionsof tons of matter per second, which hit the stellar surface at asignificant fraction of the speed of light. This leads tothermonuclear reactions on the stellar surface whose ashes gravitategradually inward, causing significant changes (e.g. nuclear fusionreactions) in the star's crust. The major goal of this activity is toexplore the impact of these thermonuclear reactions on the thermalevolution of accreting neutron stars.The second activity concerns our understanding of the fundamentalphysics realized in the ultra-dense core of neutron stars, whereneutrons and protons might be broken up into their quark constituents,creating a new state of matter known as quark matter. If quark matterexists in the cores of neutron stars, it will be a colorsuperconductor whose condensation pattern is very complex. It has alsobeen theorized that neutron stars could in fact be quark stars,objects made entirely of quark matter. In the framework of thisactivity, research on potential astrophysical signatures signaling theexistence of quark matter in "neutron" stars will be carried out.These research activities are crucial to obtain the full physicspotential of the investments that are made in astrophysical detectors,at Jefferson Lab, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), as wellas new investments that are recommended for the Rare IsotopeAccelerator (RIA).The researchers and students involved in this project will developmulti-media lectures on how stars work and present them to middleand high school students and teachers in the San Diego area.