Frictionless Superfluid Found In Neutron Star Core 145
intellitech writes "NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has discovered the first direct evidence for a superfluid, a bizarre, friction-free state of matter, at the core of a neutron star (abstract). Superfluids created in laboratories on Earth exhibit remarkable properties, such as the ability to climb upward and escape airtight containers. The finding has important implications for understanding nuclear interactions in matter at the highest known densities."
Re:airtight? big deal (Score:5, Interesting)
Now, if you can put this stuff in a seamless glass sphere, and it still leaks out, I'll be impressed.
Normal helium can leak out of a seamless glass sphere, so I imagine you'd see supercooled helium leaking out as well from the same mechanism. Not that exciting, but gives you an idea of how hard some things are.
Re:airtight? big deal (Score:2, Interesting)
Really? What, it just seeps out through the actual glass? Are the helium atoms small enough to squeeze through the gaps between molecules, or just really sneaky?
I continue to be awed by all of the wacky shit that is apparently everyday physics.
Re:airtight? big deal (Score:5, Interesting)
Yep, pretty much. Practically speaking, it's one of the things that keeps a helium-based Stirling engine from being one of the most efficient methods of solar power production - the stuff leaks out at every opportunity.
Re:airtight? big deal (Score:4, Interesting)
Although I was disappointed to find that the "climbs the walls of the container" thing was actually just in a one-atom-thick layer. (At such scales, surface tension beats gravity, and with no viscosity to hold it in check, the fluid flows up the sides molecule-by-molecule. It looks like it's just dripping through a hole in the container.
The actual physics (Score:5, Interesting)
The energy is leaving the star via neutrino emission, which in turn is a result of the neutron superfluid inside the neutron star. That's the important discovery.
This is very interesting physics, because there is no way to produce these conditions in the lab, or anywhere outside a neutron star.
Of course you could just read the abstract and get all this information yourself, but this is Slashdot so knoledge takes a back seat to bad jokes and uninformed opinion.