Detecting strange material form

Scientists in Russia and Mexico have found evidence of the existence of a form of matter that humans have never known in the core of a neutron star.

The position of the neutron star in the remnant of the supernova explosion called Cassiopeia A. Photo: NASA.

An article in Physical Review Letters said that superfluid - the name of a new form of matter - was found in the remnants of a supernova explosion called Cassiopeia A. The explosion occurred. out to 11 thousand light years from the earth. Chandra Space Telescope (capable of X-ray photography) of the United States continuously photographed the remnants of the explosion from 1999 up to now.

Two expert groups of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Ioffe Institute study data sent by Chandra glasses. They also discovered a neutron star dating back 330 years between the remnants of the supernova explosion. The calculation results show that the brightness of this star has decreased by 20% since 1999. According to scientists, for brightness to decrease by 20%, its surface temperature must be reduced to 4 degrees C.

"That neutron star has a tremendous reduction in temperature ," said Danny Page, a scientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Page and colleagues explained that when neutrons are paired together to form superfluids, they release neutrinos - particles that can pierce through stars. In the process of piercing through the star neutrino particles carrying energy, the temperature of the star decreases rapidly. Neutrinos are subatomic particles that play an important role in the formation of the universe.

' Rapid cooling is the first and direct evidence that the core of neutron stars is made up of super liquids and superconducting materials ,' said Peter Shternin, a researcher at the Ioffe Institute in Russia. .

Superfluid is a form of matter in which matter can move chaotic like liquid and gas. However, the special point is that the temperature at every position in the superfluid is equal. The physical forms that humans know include solid, liquid, gas and plasma. So superfluid can be considered a fifth form of matter. Currently, the scientific community cannot create superfluid state in laboratories.