Degenerate matter as a research area investigates astrophysical and high-energy-density systems in which fermions, typically electrons, neutrons, or quarks, are governed predominantly by quantum degeneracy pressure rather than thermal pressure. This field encompasses theoretical and computational studies of equations of state for white dwarf and neutron star interiors, relativistic Fermi gases, and possible exotic phases such as quark matter. Researchers analyze transport properties, stability criteria, and phase transitions under extreme densities, integrating quantum many-body theory, nuclear physics, and general relativity to model observable phenomena such as mass–radius relations, cooling behavior, and gravitational-wave signatures of compact objects.
Describing matter under extreme conditions, such as those found inside neutron stars, remains an unsolved problem. The density of such matter is equivalent to compressing around 100,000 Eiffel Towers into a single cubic centimeter. ...
General Physics
Dec 17, 2025
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When the most massive stars reach the ends of their lives, they blow up in spectacular supernova explosions, which seed the universe with heavy elements such as carbon and iron. Another type of explosion—the kilonova—occurs ...
Astronomy
Dec 16, 2025
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A new paper published in Nature Communications could put scientists on the path to understanding one of the wildest, hottest, and most densely packed places in the universe: a neutron star.
Quantum Physics
Nov 28, 2025
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Though atomic nuclei are often depicted as static clusters of protons and neutrons (nucleons), the particles are actually bustling with movement. Thus, the nucleons carry a range of momenta. Sometimes, these nucleons may ...
General Physics
Jul 31, 2025
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Imagine a star so dense that a teaspoon of its material would weigh as much as Mount Everest, spinning hundreds of times per second while beaming radio waves across the universe. These are pulsars, the collapsed cores of ...
Astronomy
Jun 24, 2025
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Binary neutron star mergers, cosmic collisions between two very dense stellar remnants made up predominantly of neutrons, have been the topic of numerous astrophysics studies due to their fascinating underlying physics and ...
Neutron stars are some of the densest objects in the universe. They are the core of a collapsed megastar that went supernova, have a typical radius of 10 km—just slightly more than the altitude of Mt. Everest—and their density ...
The study of 'starquakes' (like earthquakes, but in stars) promises to give us important new insights into the properties of neutron stars (the collapsed remnants of massive stars), according to new research led by the University ...
General Physics
Feb 5, 2025
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Using the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the Apache Point Observatory (APO), an international team of astronomers has detected 19 pulsation modes in an ultra-massive white dwarf known as WD J0135+5722. The discovery, ...
At extremely high densities, quarks are expected to form pairs, as electrons do in a superconductor. This high-density quark behavior is called color superconductivity. The strength of pairing inside a color superconductor ...
General Physics
Jan 14, 2025
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