Theoretical and Numerical Studies of Astrophysical Quark Matter: Implications to Nuclear and Explosive Astrophysics

天体物理夸克物质的理论和数值研究：对核和爆炸天体物理学的影响

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-04232
• 负责人: Ouyed, Rachid
• 金额: $ 2.99万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=712818
• 关键词: Theoretical; Numerical; Studies; Astrophysical; Quark

The search for quark matter and quark stars in the Universe: A longstanding aim of natural science is to understand the fundamental constituents of matter. Quarks and Gluons are the building blocks of the ordinary matter composed of neutrons and protons, and ordinarily remain hidden from us (i.e. they are trapped) inside protons and neutrons, requiring extreme temperature or pressure to liberate them. But nature might just do that in the ultra-dense cores of neutron stars offering us a natural laboratory to study how nuclei-free quarks can form. We developed the BURN-UD code (a first if its kind in the world) which captures the details of how neutrons inside neutron stars turn into quarks as they are squeezed by the force of gravity. We discovered that this transition can be explosive and converts the Neutron star to a Quark star (the Quark-Nova) releasing at least 10 times more energy than the most energetic Supernovae if harnessed this could be transformative to astrophysics with unique, neutrino and photon, signatures. We plan to search carefully for these signatures and improve our treatment of the physics of the explosion. Understanding how quarks can be freed from inside neutrons will advance our knowledge of matter at extreme conditions which could provide guidance for a new kind of experiments in Canada that could probe quark matter. The origin of heavy elements: The origin of the elements that make up our world is one of the oldest most fundamental scientific questions. Elements, including the carbon in our bodies and the iron that make up most of Earth, have been created by nuclear reactions in stars. However, the origin of elements beyond iron is still a mystery. They are attributed to a process called the r-process (rapid neutron capture process) which consists of seed nuclei (iron) exposed to a rich source of neutrons and ``gobbling up” as many of these neutrons as they can, yielding heavier elements. However, the site of the r-process is not known but Supernovae and colliding neutron stars are prime suspects since they produce a lots of neutrons and iron. A serious challenge is the fact that the nuclear processes governing these reactions are not well known and the properties of the extremely neutron-rich nuclei themselves are very hard to measure in laboratories. My research focuses on creating a software (a “sand-box”) for Canadian nuclear astrophysicists to simulate different astrophysical r-process sites while taking into account the uncertainties inherent to the underlying nuclear physics. Once these uncertainties are filtered out, THE astrophysical site for r-process can then be isolated. Knowing the exact site will have serious implications to the chemical evolution of the Universe. It will give us vital information about the properties of neutron-rich nuclei with direct bearing on many experiments being pursued at TRIUMF (Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, Vancouver).

搜索宇宙中的夸克物质夸克恒星：夸克和胶子是由中子和质子组成的普通物质的基础，通常在质子和中子内隐藏着我们（即它们被困在我们的中子），但自然可能只是可能只是在中子恒星的LTRA致密核心中，我们为我们提供了一个自然实验室，以研究无核夸克如何形成燃烧的代码。就像重力的力量所挤压一样。 ，签名。 重型元素的起源：使乌尔德是最古老的元素，将碳包括在我们体内的碳和构成大部分地球的铁，这是由恒星中的核反应产生的。在称为R过程的过程中，该过程由暴露于中子的丰富来源和``gobbring up''作为中子作为中子而组成，产生了更重的元素。但是，R-的位置是R-的位置过程被剥夺了，但是超新星的中子星是主要的可疑，因为它们会产生许多中子，而挑战是thaClear的过程专注于为加拿大核天体物理学家创建一个软件（“沙盒”），以模拟不同的地点，同时考虑到这些不清楚的核心。重要的信息在许多经验中，在Triumf（加拿大国家粒子和核心物理学实验室，温哥华）上进行了许多经验。