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- The strongest material in the universe can be the "nuclear pulp".
- You can find this substance in the crust of neutron stars.
- This amazing material is super dense and 10 billion times harder to break than steel.
Superman is known as "the man of steel" for his strength and indestructibility. But the discovery of a new material 10 billion times harder to break than steel raises the question: is it time for a new superhero known as "Nuclear Pasta"? This is the name of the stuff that a team of researchers thinks is the best known subject in the universe.
Unlike humans, when stars reach a certain age, they do not dry out and die not only, but they explode and turn into a mass of neurons. The resulting spatial entity, called a neutron star, is incredibly dense. So much so that previous research has shown that the surface of such a star would include an incredibly strong material. The new research, which involved the most important computer simulations ever performed on a neutron star crust, suggests that "nuclear pulps", the material just beneath the surface, are actually stronger.
The competition between the proton and neutron forces inside a neutron star creates super-dense shapes that resemble long cylinders or flat planes, respectively called "spaghetti" and "lasagna" ". It is also here that we get the general name of nuclear pulp.
Caplan & Horowitz / arXiv
Diagrams illustrating the different types of so-called nuclear pasta.
The researchers' computer simulations required 2 million hours of CPU time before they were completed, which, according to a McGill University press release, is "the equivalent of 250 years on a laptop with a single GPU ". Fortunately, the researchers had access to a supercomputer, although it took a few years. The simulations of the scientists consisted of stretching and deforming the nuclear pulps to see how they behaved and what it would take to break them.
While they may have discovered how nuclear dough seems to be strong, no one is holding their breath as we will be sending missions to exploit this substance in the near future. Instead, discovery has other important applications.
One of the co-authors of the study, Matthew Caplan, a postdoctoral researcher at McGill University, said that neutron stars would be "one hundred billion times denser than anything on earth." Understanding what is inside would be valuable for astronomers, because now only the outer layer of these starts can be observed.
"A lot of interesting physics is taking place here in extreme conditions and understanding the physical properties of a neutron star is a way for scientists to test their theories and models," Caplan added. "With this result, many problems need to be revisited.What mountain size can you build on a neutron star before the crust breaks up and it breaks down?" What will it look like she?
Another possibility to study is that, because of its instability, nuclear pulps can generate gravitational waves. It may be possible to observe them at a given moment on Earth using very sensitive equipment.
The team of scientists also included A. S. Schneider from the California Institute of Technology and C. J. Horowitz from the University of Indiana.
See the study "The Elasticity of Nuclear Pulps" published in Letters of physical examination.
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