Researchers theorize that neutrons may be squished into cubes in neutron stars - Polidicks

[release] [IMG]http://gyazo.com/94762d0f6ec5219a9bbf2d02e248332e.png[/IMG] [/release] [release] [B](PhysOrg.com) -- Neutrons, those particles that reside here on Earth inside the nucleus of atoms, along with protons, collectively called nucleons, are thought to exist in the far reaches of the universe inside of so-named neutron stars, which are the remnants of stars that have exploded. In a paper published on the preprint server arXiv, Spanish physicists Felipe Llanes-Estrada, and Gaspar Moreno Navarro, suggest that the densities in the cores of certain sizes of such neutron stars might be so great as to squash the neutrons down from their normal spherical shape, into cubes. [/B] The key is in the size of the neutron star, the researchers say; too big and they’d collapse down to black holes. Too small and they'd simply exist as run of the mill neutron stars. Since the tipping point is believed to be such stars that are of twice the density as the sun, the discovery of a neutron star last year, PSR J1614-2230 (the largest ever found) with a solar masses of 1.97 seems to fit the bill as it’s about as dense as a neutron star can get without collapsing. The researchers speculate that in order to achieve such a density, the neutrons at its core would have to facilitate a means of having the same number of neutrons in a smaller space. And because cubes are more efficient, they theorize that those neutrons closet to the core, would be the ones squished down to cube shapes. Llanes-Estrada likens it to a stack of oranges sitting on a grocer’s shelf. Normally spherical they begin to flatten as more and more are piled on top. If the same amount of weight (gravity) were applied in all directions, the oranges would flatten from both above and below, but also on all sides as well. In their natural state, as spheres, neutrons have a packing density of about 74%; collapsing them down to cubes, creating a sort of crystal lattice such as happens when diamonds from carbon in the Earth, could possibly bring that number up to nearly 100%. Not everyone agrees with the results of the duo’s paper, some even suggesting that the huge density numbers could come about as the result of the blurring of lines between individual neutrons; but the two researchers seem undaunted, suggesting that pushing boundaries, is all a part of science.[/release] [release] The neutron is largely spherical and incompressible in atomic nuclei. These two properties are however challenged in the extreme pressure environment of a neutron star. Our variational compu- tation within the Cornell model of Coulomb gauge QCD shows that the neutron (and also the 3/2 baryon) can adopt cubic symmetry at an energy cost of about 150 MeV . Balancing this with the free energy gained by tighter neutron packing, we expose the possible soft- ening of the equation of state of neutron matter. [/release] [URL="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-08-theorize-neutrons-squished-cubes-neutron.html"]Source[/URL]

Well, sort of cubes.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/zMAAV.png[/IMG] please stop using gyazo. still, cool concept.

Oh God, neutron stars are made of voxels! It all makes sense now!

Quantum physics, you so crazy!

These neutron-cubes sound pretty interesting, but I doubt any race could even attempt to mine them, and even if they did the drop in pressure would probably cause them to disintergrate. Still, neutronium would still be pretty strong if it were stable, wouldn't it?

Hm. Whenever I thought of a neutron, I always thought of just a particle. I'm not sure the properties of geometry we observe here in the macroscopic would apply to a neutron. Are we even sure that a neutron's natural "shape" is spherical? What dictates the "shape" of a subatomic particle? Is it possible for this "shape" to be distorted like a physical material? [editline]18th August 2011[/editline] If that's true, this theory would make sense. If neutrons were literally spheres, all of the pressure from their congregation would lie on a single point on their surfaces. The natural reaction would be to collapse and distribute the pressure on squares, creating a cube shape.

[QUOTE=ironman17;31810673]These neutron-cubes sound pretty interesting, but I doubt any race could even attempt to mine them, and even if they did the drop in pressure would probably cause them to disintergrate. Still, neutronium would still be pretty strong if it were stable, wouldn't it?[/QUOTE] What? And that last sentence is kind of redundant, "something would be strong if it didn't fall apart." Also, are the shape of neutrons also governed by probabilities like electron orbitals?

Weighted Combustion Cube.

It's like Quantum Minecraft!

[QUOTE=Glorbo;31806420]Well, sort of cubes.[/QUOTE] Actually if you're looking for the proper scientific term, it's "Sorta cubes"