The simulation shows that nuclear pulps are 10 billion times more difficult to break than steel

A trio of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the United States and Canada has found evidence suggesting that the nuclear material beneath the surface of neutron stars could be the most powerful material in the universe. In their article published in the journal Letters of physical examination, E. Caplan, A. S. Schneider and C. J. Horowitz describe their neutron star simulation and what it showed.

Previous research has shown that when stars reach a certain age, they explode and collapse into a mass of neutrons; hence the name neutron star. And as they lose their neutrinos, neutron stars become extremely compact. Previous research has also found evidence that the surface of these stars is so dense that the material would be incredibly strong. In this new effort, researchers report evidence suggesting that the material just beneath the surface is even stronger.

Astrophysicists have hypothesized that as the neutron star settles into its new configuration, densely packed neutrons are pushed and pulled in different ways, resulting in the formation of various forms below the surface. Many of the theorized forms are called pasta because of the similarities. Some have been named gnocchi, for example, other spaghetti or lasagna. Caplan, Schneider and Horowitz questioned the density of these formations. Would they be denser and therefore stronger than the materials of the crust? To find out, they created computer simulations.

The simulations showed that nuclear pulps were indeed more resistant than those of the crust. Simulations have also shown that these formations are probably the most powerful material in the entire universe. They showed, for example, that they were 10 billion times more resistant than steel. But this is not the end of the story. The simulations also supported another theory that suggests that neutron stars could generate ripples in the tissue of space-time because of their strong gravitational force. The theorized training effect is due to the irregular formation of nuclear pulps. This means that neutron stars could emit gravitational waves that could be observed one day by extremely sensitive equipment on Earth.

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More information:
Elasticity of nuclear pulp, Letters of physical examination (2018). journals.aps.org/prl/accepted/… 708d692a5b0747353591

arxiv.org/abs/1807.02557