Neutron stars are one of the coolest objects in the universe. Their density, gravitational pull, and such a huge mass compacted into a tiny size. Today, we are going to learn how to build one. But, before that, let us learn more about neutron stars.
A neutron star is formed after a star having a mass of about 1.4 – 3 solar masses explode in a supernova leaving only the core left. They are extremely dense, having a density of about 3.7×1017 to 5.9×1017 kg/m3, the same as the nucleus of an atom. In fact, it is a huge nucleus. The reason why the density differs is that neutron stars have different masses. Higher mass means higher density while lower mass means lower density. The extreme pressure at the core of neutron stars is so extreme that scientists believe that quarks could be free at this pressure and pure quark matter could be found inside the neutron stars, at the core of neutron stars.
Neutron stars are exceptionally cool because they can blast off electromagnetic pulses and gamma rays, destroying everything in their radius. They can act like pulsars because they send out electromagnetic pulses. Now, as we have learned some details about neutron stars. Let us build it now.
First, find a star that is between 1.4 – 3.0 solar masses and wait a few million or billion years for the supernova to occur. If you are impatient, bombard it with gravitational waves to speed up the process. The supernova occurs as the star fuses hydrogen into helium, helium into lithium, and so on until iron. After iron, the reaction is no longer exothermic, it is endothermic. Stars are very massive which means their gravitational force is very strong. Indeed, if the nuclear reaction doesn’t occur, the star would collapse under its own strong gravitational pull. The heat produced during nuclear reaction pushed the gravitational pull, creating a balance and the star is stable.
But, after the iron, the reaction is endothermic so no heat. Therefore, the star collapses under its own gravity. The outer covering of the star is blasted off in a supernova while the core collapses. Indeed, the core would collapse into a black hole if it weren’t for quantum mechanics. According to the Pauli Exclusion Principle, no two fermions can be in the same quantum state. Elementary particles like fermions don’t exist in our regular 4D spacetime (3D Space + 1D Time), they exist in 10D (6D + 4D spacetime) These 6D are the quantum properties like spin, charge, etc. So technically, two fermions could be in the same spatial location if one of their quantum properties like charge, spin, etc. is different.
Again, this Pauli Exclusion Principle is not only about force. No matter how much force you tried to make two fermions in the same quantum state, it won’t work.
When the core collapses, the star is collapsing into a tiny space that the fermions(neutrons) occupy all the possible quantum states. No free quantum state is present. If they collapse again a little harder, the fermions will overlap which is not possible. Thus, this is what saved neutron stars from collapsing into a black hole.
Fun Fact: The more massive a neutron star is, the smaller a neutron star is, and vice-versa.
But don’t you want to know how are black holes formed? We know that fermions can never be in the same quantum state. If this is it all, then neutron stars are the densest objects in the universe, right? But other quantum phenomena allow for the formation of black holes. I will explain that process in an upcoming blog.
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