Peering Into a Giant Nucleus: Rays, Relativity, and Neutron Stars

Hi there !

In this event we will discuss, connect and bring inspiration to each other by talking about the science of the Universe, black holes, the big bang and other such topics in a casual and friendly environment 🙂.

This week we are very happy to have as a guest speaker PhD Devarshi Choudhury who will take us on an interesting journey into the exotic world of neutron stars !

Here is a short introduction:

Starting in 1931, scientists such as Lev Landau hypothesized the existence of a neutron star, suggesting that if a star's density were extreme enough, it would resemble a giant atomic nucleus with the mass of a sun and only as wide as a city like Amsterdam. Remarkably, these bizarre objects were predicted before the neutron itself was even discovered.

Following their actual discovery in 1967 by Jocelyn Bell Burnell, and especially over the last decade, the secrets of these objects have finally begun to unfold. Everything about neutron stars is extreme, defying our everyday intuition. They represent a realm where the subatomic laws of quantum physics dictate the survival of a macroscopic star, and where extreme density warps space and time so severely that relativity becomes critically important when studying and observing their properties. Yet, the deepest mystery lies hidden in their interiors. Scientists still do not fully understand the equation of state of this ultra-dense matter — the fundamental rulebook governing how particles behave under such crushing pressure. This leaves us with profound questions: How do forces of nature behave in such extreme conditions? Does the core consist of intact neutrons, or does it dissolve into a soup of free quarks? Or something else entirely perhaps?

To tackle these questions, NASA launched the NICER X-ray space telescope, currently aboard the International Space Station. This is where our guest's research comes in. Using data from NICER and other space telescopes, Dr. Devarshi Choudhury simulated these obj