Evidence of Quark Matter in a Neutron Star.

What are Quarks ?

A quark is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei.[1] Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never found in isolation; they can be found only within hadrons, which include baryons (such as protons and neutrons) and mesons, or in quark–gluon plasmas.[2][3][nb 1] For this reason, much of what is known about quarks has been drawn from observations of hadrons.

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What is a Neutron Star ?

A neutron star is the collapsedcore of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich [1]. Neutron stars are the smallest and densest stellar objects, excluding black holes and hypothetical white holes, quark stars, and strange stars.[2] Neutron stars have a radius on the order of 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) and a mass of about 1.4 solar masses.[3] They result from the supernova explosion of a massive star, combined with gravitational collapse, that compresses the core past white dwarf star density to that of atomic nuclei.

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The enormous pressure conditions in the core of very massive Neutron Star leads to formation of Quark Matter.

Earlier, It was thought that Quark Matter only existed at the beginning of the Universe i.e Big Bang

And this below video explain's the importance of discovery..

Research paper Associated with this Article

Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-020-0914-9