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Colliding neutron stars ring in a clue to puzzle of extreme matter

The pitch of oscillations detected in the γ-rays that are emitted when neutron stars collide could provide insight into the hottest and densest matter in the Universe — revealing physics that cannot be studied with terrestrial experiments.
  1. Paul D. Lasky

    1. Paul D. Lasky is in the School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Melbourne 3800, Australia.

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Neutron stars have masses greater than that of the Sun, but are typically no bigger than a small city1. So when two of them collide, they provide some pretty exciting fireworks that can be observed from Earth, even when they are millions to billions of parsecs away. Astronomers have been recording their observations of these spectacular events for decades2,3. Now, writing in Nature, Chirenti et al.4 have gone back through these archives, and made a discovery that could accelerate our understanding of physics in the most extreme regions of the Universe.

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Nature 613, 245-246 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04580-w

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The author declares no competing interests.

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