Strangeness in Neutron Stars

Abstract

It is generally agreed on that the tremendous densities reached in the centers of neutron stars provide a high-pressure environment in which numerous novel particles processes are likely to compete with each other. These processes range from the generation of hyperons to quark deconfinement to the formation of kaon condensates and H-matter. There are theoretical suggestions of even more exotic processes inside neutron stars, such as the formation of absolutely stable strange quark matter, a configuration of matter even more stable than the most stable atomic nucleus, iron. In the latter event, neutron stars would be largely composed of pure quark matter, eventually enveloped in a thin nuclear crust. No matter which physical processes are actually realized inside neutron stars, each one leads to fingerprints, some more pronounced than others though, in the observable stellar quantities. This feature combined with the unprecedented progress in observational astronomy, which allows us to see vistas with remarkable clarity that previously were only imagined, renders neutron stars to nearly ideal probes for a wide range of physical studies, including the role of strangeness in dense matter.