Discovered a unique neutron star

it is believed that neutron star quanta collapse into the dark black hole

This year rich in discoveries of unusual objects. Recently, we wrote about the fact that astronomers have discovered a planet that . Now, using the Green Bank Telescope, scientists have found the most massive neutron star over the entire history of observations. The neutron star is quite strange — they consist almost entirely of neutrons and have incredible density. The mass of the detected stars, which gave the most beautiful name J0740+6620 in the whole of 2.17 times greater than the mass of the Sun, and its diameter is 30 kilometers. The study will be published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

What is neutron star?

Agree, the universe — a strange thing. It is the galactic filaments, galactic superclusters, dark matter, Fermi bubbles, black holes, neutron stars... the list goes on. And if the cosmic web we , today, we offer you to pay attention to neutron stars.

Let's Start with the fact that more dense objects in the Universe except neutron stars are black holes only. The researchers rightly believe that the study of neutron stars is able to bring them to the understanding of the extreme physics of the Universe — in the end, it is these quanta collapse into the dark star . In fact a neutron star — it is a massive atomic nucleus, which has very strange properties. So, J0740+6620 is the densest and most bizarre neutron star in the entire history of observations.

Neutron stars — one of the most mysterious objects in the Universe

As the stars, as we are with you, grow old and die, their final state depends on the mass. To understand how they are formed from dying stars, first you need to understand how white dwarfs are formed. The fact that 97% of stars in the Universe — that white dwarfs. They consist of electron-nuclear plasma and deprived of the source of fusion energy. At the same time, they are the most dense form of a star after neutron due to a kind of “built-in” space the stop sign. Simply put, white dwarfs are so dense that atomic bonds of their material ripped. It turns them into a plasma of atomic nuclei and electrons. Thus, to gain greater density than white dwarfs is quite difficult — the electrons do not want to be the same as each other and will resist shrinkage up to a certain point where this can happen. Physicists call it the degeneracy of the electrons.

The Star, whose mass does not exceed 10 solar masses, tend to become white dwarfs. The limit mass of white dwarfs is about 1.44 solar masses. Here's a more dense star with a mass from 10 to 29 solar masses can become neutron star. The fact that this moment is so great that it overcomes the degeneracy of the electrons: the electrons still do not want to occupy the same state, so forced to merge with protons, resulting in formation of neutrons and neutrinos are emitted. Thus, neutron stars consist almost entirely of neutrons and held due to their degeneration, which is similar to the degeneracy of electrons in white dwarfs.

Schematic representation of the pulsar J074+6620. The sphere in the middle represents the neutron star, the curves indicate the magnetic field lines and the protruding cones — the zone of radiation.

At the same time, study co-author Scott ransom notes that neutron stars there is a tipping point when their internal density becomes so extreme that the force of gravity inhibits the ability of neutrons to resist further collapse. Thus, if the mass J074+6620 was more, the star simply collapsed to . Each "most massive" neutron star that scientists find, gradually brings the experts to determine the tipping point that keeps a neutron star from collapsing.

How astronomers looking for neutron stars?

In the milky Way there are at least 100 million neutron stars, but most of them — ancient, cold star, so they are very difficult to detect. Fortunately, J0740+6620 — it is a pulsar. Recall that a type called pulsars, rapidly rotating neutron star that emits radio waves and other electromagnetic radiation. When the pulsar rotates, these beams are "pulsing" with an enviable regularity, that is somewhat reminiscent of the clock. Most neutron stars are difficult to identify, but when the pulsar radio waves penetrate the Earth, they become much easier to discover and explore.

the Collision of two neutron stars.

Pulsar J0740+6620 dwells in a binary system next to a white dwarf. When the white dwarf passed in front of the beam of radio waves, neutron stars, astronomers on the planet could detect a small delay in the incoming radio waves. This happened because the gravity of a white dwarf curving space around it, causing passing radio waves to move in one touch further than usual. By measuring this, the astronomers were able to calculate the mass of a white dwarf. And knowing the mass of one object inbinary system, you can easily calculate the mass of the other. Thus, the researchers found that J0740+6620 is the most massive neutron star to date.

The Authors hope that their work will help scientists in such fields of science like high energy physics, relativistic astrophysics, etc. And all because in addition to the properties of neutron stars that are listed in the article, when you merge these objects are formed, the heaviest elements in the Universe.