Italian researchers of the University of Pisan, the University of Ferrara and the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) suggested that the source of gravitational waves GW190814, discovered on August 14, 2019 by the LIGO collaboration, is a double system in which a hypothetical quark star is included. Briefly on the study published in the magazine Physical Review Letters, is described in the press release PHYS.ORG.
According to the model proposed by the authors of scientific work, the quark star is formed when a number of conditions are followed. First, the density of the subsoil must be quite high, so that there is a transition from a normal nuclear matter (consisting of protons and neutrons) to a liquid of three quarks (upper, lower and strange). Secondly, if the “strange quark matter” is absolutely stable, then normal neutron stars whose weight exceeds the threshold value, become metastable and transformed into strange quark stars.
Astrophysical scenario suggests that in nature there are two coexisting families of compact stars, namely normal neutron stars and strange quark stars. Moreover, when the neutron star turns into a strange quark star, it highlights a significant amount of energy (approximately 10 in the 53rd degree of ERG), which resembles a supernova outbreak. Quark matter is very tough, and such stars can accommodate a lot of three suns.
Data analysis GW190814 showed that the mass of the second compact object serves as a sign of the presence in the system of a quark star. In general, the event may be the result of a merger of two neutron stars, a neutron star and a quark star or two quark stars. Further observations will help to check the hypothesis of Italian researchers.