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"Burning Walls" May Stop Black Hole Formation

KentuckyFC writes "Black holes are thought to form when a star greater than 4 times the mass of the Sun explodes in a supernova and then collapses. The force of this collapse is so great that no known force can stop it. In less massive stars, the collapse cannot overcome so-called neutron degeneracy, the force that stops neutrons from being squashed together. Now a Russian physicist says another effect may be involved. He points out that quantum chromodynamics predicts that when neutrons are squashed together, matter undergoes a phase transition into "subhadronic" matter. This is very different from ordinary matter. In subhadronic form, space is essentially empty. So the phase change creates a sudden reduction in pressure, forcing any ordinary matter in the star to implode into this new vacuum. The result is a massive increase in temperature of this matter that creates a "burning wall" within the supernova. And it is this burning wall that stops the formation of a black hole, not just the degeneracy pressure of neutrons. This should lead to much greater energies inside a supernova than had been thought possible until now. And that's important because it could explain the formation of high energy gamma ray bursts that have long puzzled astrophysicists."

4 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Re:QCD Phases by Smidge207 · · Score: -1, Troll

    I'll have to read the paper to see it this idea addresses this issue.

    You run along and do that. Also, have you ever kissed a woman in passion?

    =Smidge=

    --
    Is it just my observation, or is eldavojohn an idiot?
  2. Spoiler! by GerardAtJob · · Score: 0, Troll

    So... our solar system will vanish into a blackhole (in a few million of million of years...)!
    That's a sad end...

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    I can't call that English ;-)
  3. Re:So by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    how is this modded informative? I swear, I spend all my time just dealing with trolls here these days...

  4. Re:I love this kind of story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    It appears that Bible-humpo nut-freaks are getting a lot of mod points these days. A mild side joke about church-child-molesting got my comment modded as flamebait the other day; and now this post I'm replying to, even though it it on-topic, correct, informative, and insightful.

    Hey Bible-humpos, stop the hatin'.