Stellar Equilibrium in Semiclassical Gravity
- Journal:
- Physical Review Letters
- Published:
- DOI:
- 10.1103/physrevlett.120.061102
- Affiliations:
- 3
- Authors:
- 1
Research Highlight
Stellar mathematics predicts new kind of star
© Universal History Archive/Getty
Giant stars could be reborn as extremely compact stars with a repulsive field.
When stars run out of energy to burn bright, they collapse under their own mass and either explode as supernovae or implode into black holes.
A researcher from the University of Cape Town has calculated that under certain conditions the rearrangement of particles within the immense gravitational field of dying stars could create a field that repels rather than attracts. This would result in a new kind of star that appears dark like a black hole, but without the infamous event horizon from which no light can return.
The continued study of gravitational waves — a space- and time-bending phenomenon thought to be unleashed by the merging of massive objects such as black holes — should reveal whether this new star type actually exists.
References
- Physical Review Letters 120, 061102 (2018). doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.120.061102
Institutions | Authors | Share |
---|---|---|
Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA), Italy | 0.33 | |
INFN Section in Trieste, Italy | 0.33 | |
University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa | 0.33 |