Recent observations by ESA’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s Chandra have revealed three unusually cold, young neutron stars. This finding challenges current models, showing they cool much faster than expected.
The discovery has significant implications, suggesting that only a few proposed neutron star models are viable, and pointing to a potential breakthrough in linking the theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics through astrophysical observations.
Neutron stars are the densest objects in the universe, formed when massive stars collapse under their own gravity. Their cores are so dense that scientists still don’t know what form matter takes under extreme pressure.
The equation of state for neutron stars describes physical processes within them. However, scientists have hundreds of possible models, and it’s unclear which one is correct.
Observations by XMM-Newton and Chandra detected three young and cold neutron stars that are 10–100 times colder than their peers of the same age. By comparing their properties to cooling rates predicted by different models, researchers concluded that only a few equations of state can explain these findings.
The discovery has important implications for fundamental laws of the universe. Physicists have long sought to link general relativity and quantum mechanics, and neutron stars offer a unique testing ground due to their extreme densities and gravitational forces.
To draw conclusions about what this means for the equation of state, researchers combined their expertise in four steps: determining physical properties of the neutron stars, computing cooling curves for different models, analyzing the data using machine learning, and performing a statistical analysis.+
+Source: https://scitechdaily.com/quick-cooling-oddballs-rewrite-neutron-star-physics/