Neutron Star

Though atomic nuclei are often depicted as static clusters of protons and neutrons (nucleons), the particles are actually bustling with movement. Thus, the nucleons carry a range of momenta. Sometimes, these nucleons may even briefly engage through the strong interaction. This interaction between two nucleons can boost the momentum of both and form high-momentum nucleon pairs. This effect yields two-nucleon short-range correlations.

A powerful new technique harnesses swirling plasma inside laser-blasted microtubes to produce record-breaking magnetic fields—rivaling those near neutron stars—all within a compact laboratory setup. This innovation promises to transform astrophysics, quantum research, and fusion energy experiments by unleashing megatesla-level forces using nothing more than targeted laser pulses and clever engineering.

Binary neutron star mergers, cosmic collisions between two very dense stellar remnants made up predominantly of neutrons, have been the topic of numerous astrophysics studies due to their fascinating underlying physics and their possible cosmological outcomes. Most previous studies aimed at simulating and better understanding these events relied on computational methods designed to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity under extreme conditions, such as those that would be present during neutron star mergers.

A research team led by Prof. Yong Gaochan from the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has proposed a novel experimental method to probe the hyperon potential, offering new insights into resolving the longstanding "hyperon puzzle" in neutron stars. These findings were published in Physics Letters B and Physical Review C.

Across the universe, some of the most dramatic events occur when a black hole meets a neutron star. A neutron star is the ultra-dense remains of a massive star that exploded—imagine all the mass of our Sun compressed into a sphere just a few tens of kilometres wide. When a black hole and neutron star spiral toward each other, the result is one of nature's most violent spectacles.

The lightless behemoths are explored in new simulations of their interactions with extremely dense stars.

Across the cosmos, many stars can be found in pairs, gracefully circling one another. Yet one of the most dramatic pairings occurs between two orbiting black holes, formed after their massive progenitor stars exploded in supernova blasts. If these black holes lie close enough together, they will ultimately collide and form an even more massive black hole.

Merging neutron stars are excellent targets for multi-messenger astronomy. This modern and still very young method of astrophysics coordinates observations of the various signals from one and the same astrophysical source. When two neutron stars collide, they emit gravitational waves, neutrinos and radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. To detect them, researchers need to add gravitational wave detectors and neutrino telescopes to ordinary telescopes that capture light.

Neutron star mergers are collisions between neutron stars, the collapsed cores of what were once massive supergiant stars. These mergers are known to generate gravitational waves, energy-carrying waves propagating through a gravitational field, which emerge from the acceleration or disturbance of a massive body.

Author(s): Hang Yu and Shu Yan LauIn the late inspiral phase of compact binary coalescences involving neutron stars, tidal effects become increasingly important. Hang Yu and Shu Yan Lau model this system taking into consideration the tidal spin, the part of the spin that evolves in time due to tidal torquing, and its back reaction on the inspiral orbit. The rich picture developed could account for discrepancies between earlier models and numerical relativistic studies of these systems. [Phys. Rev. D 111, 084029] Published Mon Apr 14, 2025

Physicists have measured a nuclear reaction that can occur in neutron star collisions, providing direct experimental data for a process that had previously only been theorised. The study provides new insight into how the universe's heaviest elements are forged -- and could even drive advancements in nuclear reactor physics.

We Finally Know the Mass of Brand New Neutron Stars

Physicists have measured a nuclear reaction that can occur in neutron star collisions, providing direct experimental data for a process that had previously only been theorized. The study, led by the University of Surrey, provides new insight into how the universe's heaviest elements are forged—and could even drive advancements in nuclear reactor physics.

An international team of astrophysicists from China and Australia has for the first time determined how massive neutron stars are when they are born.

In 2015, astrophysicists discovered a system consisting of two compact stars orbiting each other: a pulsar (i.e., a highly magnetized rapidly rotating, light-emitting neutron star) and a so-called companion star. The companion star in this system has a mass that is 1.174 solar masses (M⊙), which is significantly lower than that of other known neutron stars with accurately measured masses.

Binary neutron star mergers emit gravitational waves followed by light. To fully exploit these observations and avoid missing key signals, speed is crucial. An interdisciplinary team of researchers presents a novel machine learning method that can analyze gravitational waves emitted by neutron star collisions almost instantaneously -- even before the merger is fully observed. A neural network processes the data and enables a fast search for visible light and other electromagnetic signals emitted during the collisions. This new method could be instrumental in preparing the field for the next generation of observatories.

Binary neutron star mergers occur millions of light-years away from Earth. Interpreting the gravitational waves they produce presents a major challenge for traditional data-analysis methods. These signals correspond to minutes of data from current detectors and potentially hours to days of data from future observatories. Analyzing such massive data sets is computationally expensive and time-consuming.

Neutron stars are some of the densest objects in the universe. They are the core of a collapsed megastar that went supernova, have a typical radius of 10 km—just slightly more than the altitude of Mt. Everest—and their density can be several times that of atomic nuclei.

Author(s): Bernhard Müller, Alexander Heger, and Jade PowellSupernova theory has struggled to explain the lightest known neutron star candidate with an accurate mass determination, the $1.174{M}_{⊙}$ companion in the eccentric compact binary system $\mathrm{J}0453+1559$. To improve the theoretical lower limit for neutron star birth masses, we perform 3D supe… [Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 071403] Published Fri Feb 21, 2025

Mergers may create dynamos that rev up the universe’s most energetic particles

When massive stars reach the end of their life cycle, they undergo gravitational collapse and shed their outer layers in a massive explosion (a supernova). Whereas particularly massive stars will leave a black hole in their wake, others leave behind a stellar remnant known as a neutron star (or white dwarf). These objects concentrate a … Continue reading "To Probe the Interior of Neutron Stars, We Must Study the Gravitational Waves from their Collisions" The post To Probe the Interior of Neutron Stars, We Must Study the Gravitational Waves from their Collisions appeared first on Universe Today.

Scientists at Goethe University Frankfurt have identified a new way to probe the interior of neutron stars using gravitational waves from their collisions. By analyzing the "long ringdown" phase—a pure-tone signal emitted by the post-merger remnant—they have found a strong correlation between the signal's properties and the equation of state of neutron-star matter. Their results were recently published in Nature Communications.

The study of 'starquakes' (like earthquakes, but in stars) promises to give us important new insights into the properties of neutron stars, improving our understanding of the universe and advancing the way we live.

The study of 'starquakes' (like earthquakes, but in stars) promises to give us important new insights into the properties of neutron stars (the collapsed remnants of massive stars), according to new research led by the University of Bath in the UK.

An international team of scientists have modelled formation and evolution of strongest magnetic fields in the Universe.

An international team of scientists has modeled the formation and evolution of the strongest magnetic fields in the universe.

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are one of the greater mysteries facing astronomers today, rivaled only by gravitational waves (GWs) and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Originally discovered in 2007 by American astronomer Duncan Lorimer (for whom the "Lorimer Burst" is named), these short, intense blasts of radio energy produce more power in a millisecond than the sun generates in a month.

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are one of the greater mysteries facing astronomers today, rivaled only by Gravitational Waves (GWs) and Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs). Originally discovered in 2007 by American astronomer Duncan Lorimer (for whom the “Lorimer Burst“ is named), these shot, intense blasts of radio energy produce more power in a millisecond than the Sun … Continue reading "Fast Radio Bursts Appear to Be Caused by Young Neutron Stars" The post Fast Radio Bursts Appear to Be Caused by Young Neutron Stars appeared first on Universe Today.

This week, scientists with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute reported that a key current, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, has not declined over the last 60 years. An international team of geneticists found evidence of Iron Age social and political empowerment of women. And quantum engineers demonstrated a famous cat-related thought experiment in a silicon chip. Additionally, astronomers speculated on neutron star land forms, paleontologists reported a previously unknown Cretaceous-era predator and a tech start-up is building a living seawall in Florida:

At extremely high densities, quarks are expected to form pairs, as electrons do in a superconductor. This high-density quark behavior is called color superconductivity. The strength of pairing inside a color superconductor is difficult to calculate, but scientists have long known the strength's relationship to the pressure of dense matter. Measuring the size of neutron stars and how they deform during mergers tells us their pressure and confirms that neutron stars are indeed the densest visible matter in the universe.

Neutron stars, the remnants of massive stars after a supernova explosion, have often been the focus of studies aimed at testing and unveiling exotic physics. This is because these stars are among the densest objects in the universe, so they host extremely high temperatures and pressures.

Collapsed dead stars, known as neutron stars, are a trillion times denser than lead, and their surface features are largely unknown. Nuclear theorists have explored mountain building mechanisms active on the moons and planets in our solar system. Some of these mechanisms suggest that neutron stars are likely to have mountains.

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are notoriously difficult to study. They are flashes of radio light that can outshine a galaxy but often last for only a fraction of a second. For years, all we could do was observe them by random chance and wonder about their origins.

Author(s): Paul RomatschkeSimulations of neutron stars provide new bounds on their properties, such as their internal pressure and their maximum mass. [Physics 18, 1] Published Mon Jan 06, 2025

Since the first fast radio burst (FRB) was discovered in 2007, astronomers have been puzzling over their source. These bright radio flashes come from seemingly random directions across the universe. Finally, astronomers have pinned down one FRB to a specific neutron star in a galaxy about 200 light-years away. The FRB was unleashed from a region within 10,000 km of the neutron star and probably emerged from its magnetosphere. The post This Fast Radio Burst Definitely Came From a Neutron Star appeared first on Universe Today.

Theoretically a neutron star could have less mass than a white dwarf. If these light neutron stars exist, we might detect them through the gravitational waves they emit during a cataclysmic merger with another star. The post Neutron Stars With Less Mass Than A White Dwarf Might Exist, and LIGO and Virgo Could Find Them appeared first on Universe Today.

Author(s): Antonio Gómez-Bañón, Kai Bartnick, Konstantin Springmann, and José A. PonsNew constraints are placed in the axion parameter space by using the effect of light QCD axion on neutron star structure and the rate of neutron star cooling. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 251002] Published Tue Dec 17, 2024

When a star dies in a supernova, one possible outcome is for the remains to become a neutron star. Inside a neutron star, the protons and electrons combine into uncharged neutrons. This substance is called neutron matter.

Every now and then, astronomers will detect an odd kind of radio signal. So powerful it can outshine a galaxy, but lasting only milliseconds. They are known as fast radio bursts (FRBs). When they were first discovered a couple of decades ago, we had no idea what might cause them.

Astronomers have only been aware of fast radio bursts for about two decades. These are incredibly short-lived blasts of radio waves that appear randomly across the sky. Various theories have been proposed to explain them, and they typically involve neutron stars in some way. A new paper calculates that interstellar objects crashing into neutron stars would do the trick. The duration of a burst nicely matches how long it would take for an impact to occur. The post Are Fast Radio Bursts Caused by Interstellar Objects Crashing Into Neutron Stars? appeared first on Universe Today.

Astronomers have used a range of telescopes, including Hubble, to watch as particles dance around a neutron star collision that created the smallest black hole ever seen.

The temperature of elementary particles has been observed in the radioactive glow following the collision of two neutron stars and the birth of a black hole. This has, for the first time, made it possible to measure the microscopic, physical properties in these cosmic events. Simultaneously, it reveals how snapshot observations made in an instant represents an object stretched out across time.

Neutron stars are extraordinarily dense objects, the densest in the Universe. They pack a lot of matter into a small space and can squeeze several solar masses into a radius of 20 km. When two neutron stars collide, they release an enormous amount of energy as a kilonova. That energy tears atoms apart into a plasma … Continue reading "The Aftermath of a Neutron Star Collision Resembles the Conditions in the Early Universe" The post The Aftermath of a Neutron Star Collision Resembles the Conditions in the Early Universe appeared first on Universe Today.

The temperature of elementary particles has been observed in the radioactive glow following the collision of two neutron stars and the birth of a black hole. This has, for the first time, made it possible to measure the microscopic, physical properties in these cosmic events.

In 2005 astronomers found a pulsar rotating at 716 times a second. Now a team studying an X-ray binary has found another neutron star spinning at that rate. The post Astronomers Have Found the Fastest Spinning Neutron Star appeared first on Universe Today.

Physicists have shown that extremely light particles known as axions may occur in large clouds around neutron stars. These axions could form an explanation for the elusive dark matter that cosmologists search for -- and moreover, they might not be too difficult to observe.

A team of physicists from the universities of Amsterdam, Princeton and Oxford have shown that extremely light particles known as axions may occur in large clouds around neutron stars. These axions could form an explanation for the elusive dark matter that cosmologists search for—and moreover, they might not be too difficult to observe.

Author(s): Dion Noordhuis, Anirudh Prabhu, Christoph Weniger, and Samuel J. WitteAxions—theorized particles that could account for dark matter—could accumulate around rapidly rotating neutron stars to the point that they become detectable. [Phys. Rev. X 14, 041015] Published Thu Oct 17, 2024

EIRSAT-1, the student-built satellite from University College Dublin (UCD) that was launched into space last December, detected two separate gamma-ray bursts on 21 August. One of the gamma-ray bursts has been confirmed by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) ground and space telescope network to emanate from 3 billion light years away—likely a merger of two neutron stars.

A better understanding of the inner workings of neutron stars will lead to a greater knowledge of the dynamics that underpin the workings of the universe and also could help drive future technology, said the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign physics professor Nicolas Yunes. A new study led by Yunes details how new insights into how dissipative tidal forces within double—or binary—neutron star systems will inform our understanding of the universe.

A better understanding of the inner workings of neutron stars will lead to a greater knowledge of the dynamics that underpin the workings of the universe and also could help drive future technology. A new study details how new insights into how dissipative tidal forces within double -- or binary -- neutron star systems will inform our understanding of the universe.

When neutron stars dance together, the grand smash finale they experience might create the densest known form of matter known in the Universe. It’s called “quark matter, ” a highly weird combo of liberated quarks and gluons. It’s unclear if the stuff existed in their cores before the end of their dance. However, in the … Continue reading "Neutron Star Mergers Could Be Producing Quark Matter" The post Neutron Star Mergers Could Be Producing Quark Matter appeared first on Universe Today.

Neutron stars are the remnants of old stars that have run out of nuclear fuel and undergone a supernova explosion and a subsequent gravitational collapse. Although their collisions—or binary mergers—are rare, when they do occur, these violent events can perturb spacetime itself, producing gravitational waves detectable on Earth from hundreds of millions of light years away.

Adding or removing neutrons from an atomic nucleus leads to changes in the size of the nucleus. This in turn causes tiny changes in the energy levels of the atom's electrons, known as isotope shifts. Scientists can use precision measurements of these energy shifts to measure the radius of the nucleus of an isotope.

Neutron stars (NS) are the collapsed cores of supermassive giant stars that contain between 10 and 25 solar masses. Aside from black holes, they are the densest objects in the Universe. Their journey from a main sequence star to a collapsed stellar remnant is a fascinating scientific story. Sometimes, a binary pair of NS will … Continue reading "The Aftermath of Neutron Star Mergers" The post The Aftermath of Neutron Star Mergers appeared first on Universe Today.

Primordial black holes are thought to have formed early in the evolution of the universe. None have been discovered yet but if they do exist and they may be plentiful, drifting almost invisibly through the cosmos, then they might account for dark matter. One possible way to search for them is to see the results … Continue reading "How a Black Hole Could Eat a Neutron Star from the Inside Out" The post How a Black Hole Could Eat a Neutron Star from the Inside Out appeared first on Universe Today.

In the aftermath of a collision of neutron stars, a new celestial object called a remnant emerges, shrouded in mystery. Scientists are still unraveling its secrets, including whether it collapses into a black hole and how quickly this might happen.

Short-lived neutron stars may explain both the extreme magnetic fields of black holes and gamma ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe

X-ray binaries are some of the oddest ducks in the cosmic zoo and they attract attention across thousands of light-years. Now, astronomers have captured new high-resolution radio images of the first one ever discovered. It’s called Circinus X-1. Their views show a weird kind of jet emanating from the neutron star member of the binary. … Continue reading "Neutron Star is Spraying Jets Like a Garden Sprinkler" The post Neutron Star is Spraying Jets Like a Garden Sprinkler appeared first on Universe Today.

A strange 'garden sprinkler-like' jet coming from a neutron star has been pictured for the first time. The S-shaped structure is created as the jet changes direction due to the wobbling of the disc of hot gas around the star -- a process called precession, which has been observed with black holes but, until now, never with neutron stars.

Most stars in our universe come in pairs. While our own sun is a loner, many stars like our sun orbit similar stars, while a host of other exotic pairings between stars and cosmic orbs pepper the universe. Black holes, for example, are often found orbiting each other. One pairing that has proven to be quite rare is that between a sun-like star and a type of dead star called a neutron star.

A strange 'garden sprinkler-like' jet coming from a neutron star has been pictured for the first time.

Australian scientists from the University of Sydney and Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, have detected what is likely

Author(s): Luca Boccioli and Giacomo FragioneThe explosion of core-collapse supernovae leaving neutron star or black hole remnants are difficult to simulate in their full complexity. This paper shows how important features can be captured even in spherical symmetry as long as the effects of aspects of neutrino-driven convection are introduced. Performing simulations for different metallicities, the authors find a surprising bimodal mass distribution for neutron stars and black holes in the low-mass gap. [Phys. Rev. D 110, 023007] Published Tue Jul 09, 2024

Neutron stars are extreme and mysterious objects that astrophysicists cannot see inside. With a radius of around 12 kilometers, they can have more than twice the mass of the sun. The matter in them is packed up to five times as densely as in an atomic nucleus; with black holes, they are the densest objects in the universe.

Over the last several months, Universe Today has explored a plethora of scientific disciplines, including impact craters, planetary surfaces, exoplanets, astrobiology, solar physics, comets, planetary atmospheres, planetary geophysics, cosmochemistry, meteorites, radio astronomy, extremophiles, organic chemistry, black holes, cryovolcanism, planetary protection, dark matter, and supernovae, and how each of these unique disciplines continue to teach is … Continue reading "Neutron Stars: Why study them? What makes them so fascinating?" The post Neutron Stars: Why study them? What makes them so fascinating? appeared first on Universe Today.

Neutron stars are among the densest objects in the Universe, second only to black holes. Like black holes, neutron stars are what remains after a star reaches the end of its life cycle and undergoes gravitational collapse. This produces a massive explosion (a supernova), in which a star sheds its outer layers and leaves behind … Continue reading "These Three Neutron Stars Shouldn't Be So Cold" The post These Three Neutron Stars Shouldn't Be So Cold appeared first on Universe Today.

Author(s): Nirmal Raj, Prajwal Shivanna, and Gaurav Niraj RachhA number of astrophysical mechanisms can cause observationally detectable late-time reheating in neutron stars. The paper estimates the sensitivities of the James Webb Space, Extremely Large, and Thirty Meter Telescopes for such observations, also highlighting candidate target systems. [Phys. Rev. D 109, 123040] Published Thu Jun 27, 2024

New research suggests that colliding neutron stars can briefly "trap" ghostly particles called neutrinos, which could reveal new secrets about some of space's most extreme events.

When stars reach the end of their life cycle, they shed their outer layers in a supernova. What is left behind is a neutron star, a stellar remnant that is incredibly dense despite being relatively small and cold. When this happens in binary systems, the resulting neutron stars will eventually spiral inward and collide. When … Continue reading "Simulating the Last Moments Before Neutron Stars Merge" The post Simulating the Last Moments Before Neutron Stars Merge appeared first on Universe Today.

ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra spacecraft have detected three young neutron stars that are unusually cold for their age. By comparing their properties to different neutron star models, scientists conclude that the oddballs' low temperatures disqualify around 75% of known models. This is a big step towards uncovering the one neutron star "equation of state" that rules them all, with important implications for the fundamental laws of the universe.

New simulations show that hot neutrinos created at the interface of merging binary neutron stars are briefy trapped and remain out of equilibrium with the cold cores of the stars for 2 to 3 milliseconds.

New simulations show that neutrinos created during these cataclysmic events are briefly out of thermodynamic equilibrium with the cold cores of the merging stars.

When stars collapse, they can leave behind incredibly dense but relatively small and cold remnants called neutron stars. If two stars collapse in close proximity, the leftover binary neutron stars spiral in and eventually collide, and the interface where the two stars begin merging becomes incredibly hot.

Observing gravitational waves from neutron stars as they glitch could help us understand these exotic stellar remnants.

Author(s): Kenta Yoshimura and Kazuyuki SekizawaThis work studies the structure and dynamics of the inner crust of neutron stars where nuclear matter is expected to form slabs or so-called pasta phases. The authors report a first fully self-consistent calculation of the structure of the Coulomb lattice of nuclei immersed in a sea of dripped neutrons, taking fully into account, and on the same footing, both the band structure and superfluid effects. They employ a real-time method to extract the collective masses of a slab and of protons, which in turn quantify the conduction-neutron number density and the neutron effective mass, known as the entrainment effect. The results agree with recent self-consistent band calculations without superfluidity and demonstrate that the neutron effective mass is substantially reduced up to about 42% in the slab phase;

Author(s): Nanxi Yao, Agnieszka Sorensen, Veronica Dexheimer, and Jacquelyn Noronha-HostlerProperties of neutron stars such as their masses and radii arise from the characteristics of highly asymmetric nuclear matter (with many more neutrons than protons) which is not accessible in experiments. The authors consider a family of neutron-star equations of state characterized by a nontrivial behavior of nuclear matter at high densities, including a steep rise and then decline (i.e., a sharp peak) in the speed of sound with density, which is compatible with ultraheavy neutron stars up to 2.5 solar masses. The symmetry-energy expansion is then applied to obtain equations of state applicable to the almost symmetric nuclear matter created in heavy-ion collisions in the laboratory. The authors find that the description incorporating a sharp peak in the speed of

Author(s): Elena M. Kantor, Mikhail E. Gusakov, and Kirill Y. KraavThe authors study the effect of particle diffusion on the gravitational wave signal from merging neutron stars. As neutron stars merge, the gravitational field from each star induces a tidal perturbation on the other. Particle diffusion will induce dissipation during this process, which both heats up the neutron star and drains energy from the orbit. The authors show that this results in a shift of a few Hertz in the gravitational waveform during the inspiral of a merging neutron star, which is potentially detectable with the next generation of gravitational wave observatories. [Phys. Rev. D 109, 123025] Published Fri Jun 14, 2024

Most neutron stars spin rapidly, completing a rotation in seconds or even a fraction of a second. But astronomers have found one that takes its time, completing a rotation in 54 minutes. What compels this odd object to spin so slowly? When a massive supergiant star explodes as a supernova, it leaves a collapsed core … Continue reading "Astronomers Find the Slowest-Spinning Neutron Star Ever" The post Astronomers Find the Slowest-Spinning Neutron Star Ever appeared first on Universe Today.

Scientists have detected what they believe to be a neutron star spinning at an unprecedentedly slow rate—slower than

Scientists have detected what they believe to be a neutron star spinning at an unprecedentedly slow rate -- slower than any of the more than 3,000 radio emitting neutron stars measured to date.

Scientists have detected what they believe to be a neutron star spinning at an unprecedentedly slow rate - slower than any of the more than 3,000 radio emitting neutron stars measured to date.

Magnetars are neutron stars with strong magnetic fields. With CSIRO astronomers, Dr Manisha Caleb from the School of

An X-ray burst (XRB) is a violent explosion that occurs on the surface of a neutron star as it absorbs material from a companion star. During this absorption, increasing temperatures and densities on the surface of the neutron star ignite a cascade of thermonuclear reactions.

The Milky Way has a missing pulsar problem in its core. Astronomers have tried to explain this for years. One of the more interesting ideas comes from a team of astronomers in Europe and invokes dark matter, neutron stars, and primordial black holes (PBHs).

Researchers co-led a study that will improve the detection of gravitational waves--ripples in space and time.

The Milky Way has a missing pulsar problem in its core. Astronomers have tried to explain this for years. One of the more interesting ideas comes from a team of astronomers in Europe and invokes dark matter, neutron stars, and primordial black holes (PBHs). Astronomer Roberto Caiozzo, of the International School for Advanced Studies in … Continue reading "Neutron Stars Could be Capturing Primordial Black Holes" The post Neutron Stars Could be Capturing Primordial Black Holes appeared first on Universe Today.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Science and Engineering co-led a new study by an international team that will improve the detection of gravitational waves—ripples in space and time.

Alerts can now be sent less than 30 seconds after detection.

One of the big mysteries about dark matter particles is whether they interact with each other. We still don't know the exact nature of what dark matter is. Some models argue that dark matter only interacts gravitationally, but many more posit that dark matter particles can collide with each other, clump together, and even decay into particles we can see. If that's the case, then objects with particularly strong gravitational fields such as black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs might capture and concentrate dark matter. This could in turn affect how these objects appear.

Ripples in space-time point to the merger of a neutron star with another mystery object. The object, which falls right within the mass-gap range, sheds light on a long-sought, murky realm.

Astronomers have an intriguing idea for searching for dark matter, measuring the effect of particle self-annihilation inside various astronomical objects, from planets to stars and even white dwarfs. Now, astronomers are suggesting that dark matter annihilation should have a noticeable effect on the temperature of neutron stars. Dark matter could be collecting inside the intense gravity wells of neutron stars, annihilating and making them hotter than they should be. The post Neutron Stars Could be Heating Up From Dark Matter Annihilation appeared first on Universe Today.

Galactic collisions, meteor impacts and even stellar mergers are not uncommon events. neutron stars colliding with black holes however are a little more rare, in fact, until now, we have never observed one. The fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing detected gravitational waves from a collision between a black hole and neutron star 650 million light years away. … Continue reading "A Neutron Star Merged with a Surprisingly Light Black Hole" The post A Neutron Star Merged with a Surprisingly Light Black Hole appeared first on Universe Today.