Nuclearite

Nuclearite is defined to be a nugget of strange quark matter or a strangelet surrounded by an electron shell, essentially forming an atom-like neutral system. These are a type of heavy compact particles, first proposed by E. Witten. The name itself was coined by A. De Rujula and S. L. Glasgow to describe particles colliding with the earth's atmosphere as part of the cosmic rays.[1][2] The nuclearites travel hundreds of kilometers in a second and owing to their high energies and high mass to size ratio, they form streaks of light in the lower atmospheric regions. Due to which they were termed nuclearites in connection with the meteorites.[3][4]

Properties of nuclearites

The strangelet forms what is called a nuclearite core, composed primarily of an up, down, and strange quark,  in almost equal proportion.[1][3] They could have mass anywhere between 0.1 and 100 kg.[3] And are predicted to be more stable than particles composed of just up and down quarks. The nuclearites are expected to have a constant matter density.[1] These particles are relics from the early universe or the big bang but can also be produced during extreme energetic astrophysical phenomena such as the merger of two quark stars.[5]

Experimental techniques for detection

The nuclearites are further described based on their interaction with the earth's atmosphere, with the neutrino-telescopes, and in the collider experiments.[6] The neutrino telescopes such as the ANTARES or Ice-Cube are possible detectors for nuclearites.[5]

Detecting the slow and massive nuclearites involves extrapolating heavy-ion collision data based on the theoretical estimates.[4][7]

See also

References
  1. Bakari, D.; Cecchini, S.; Dekhissi, H.; Derkaoui, J.; Giacomelli, G.; Giorgini, M.; Mandrioli, G.; Margiotta, A.; Ouchrif, M.; Patrizii, L.; Popa, V. (2000-04-18). "Magnetic monopoles, nuclearites, Q-balls: a qualitative picture". arXiv:hep-ex/0004019.
  2. De Rújula, A.; Glashow, S. L. (December 1984). "Nuclearites—a novel form of cosmic radiation". Nature. 312 (5996): 734–737. doi:10.1038/312734a0. ISSN 0028-0836. S2CID 4365378.
  3. Piotrowski, Lech Wiktor; Małek, Katarzyna; Mankiewicz, Lech; Sokołowski, Marcin; Wrochna, Grzegorz; Zadrożny, Adam; Żarnecki, Aleksander Filip (2020-08-28). "Limits on the Flux of Nuclearites and Other Heavy Compact Objects from the Pi of the Sky Project". Physical Review Letters. 125 (9): 091101. arXiv:2008.01285. Bibcode:2020PhRvL.125i1101P. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.091101. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 32915591. S2CID 220961701.
  4. Okei, K; Wada, T; Yamashita, Y; Kuga, K; Nakagawa, M; Yamamoto, I; Takahashi, N; Iwata, K; Aglietta, M; Castagnoli, C; Saavedra, O (2001-03-14). "Search for nuclearites using the TL stack detector". Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics. 27 (4): 855–865. doi:10.1088/0954-3899/27/4/310. ISSN 0954-3899.
  5. Pǎvǎlaş, G. E.; Popa, V.; Trache, Livius; Stoica, Sabin (2008). "Nuclearite Detection with the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope". AIP Conference Proceedings. AIP. 972: 511–515. Bibcode:2008AIPC..972..511P. doi:10.1063/1.2870433.
  6. "Nuclearites, a form of exotic space matter, found to be very rare". www.riken.jp. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
  7. Borgland, Anders; Elmer, Peter; Kirby, Michael; Patton, Simon; Potekhin, Maxim; Viren, Brett; Yanny, Brian (2014-12-19). "HEP-FCE Working Group on Libraries and Tools". arXiv:1506.01309. doi:10.2172/1212161. S2CID 117816301. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)


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