![]() Further compression causes the spaghetti phase rods to fuse and form sheets of nuclear matter called the lasagna phase. Immersed in a neutron liquid, these rods are known as the spaghetti phase. When the gnocchi phase is compressed, as would be expected in deeper layers of the crust, the electric repulsion of the protons in the gnocchi is not fully sufficient to support the existence of the individual spheres, and they are crushed into long rods, which, depending on their length, can contain many thousands of nucleons. ![]() This semispherical phase is known as the gnocchi phase. ![]() These formations would be unstable outside the star, due to their high neutron content and size, which can vary between tens and hundreds of nucleons. Towards the top of this transition region, the pressure is great enough that conventional nuclei will be condensed into much more massive semi-spherical collections. All phases are expected to be amorphous with a heterogeneous charge distribution. While nuclear pasta has not been observed in a neutron star, its phases are theorized to exist in the inner crust of neutron stars, forming a transition region between the conventional matter at the surface and the ultradense matter at the core. The competition between the electric repulsion of the protons, the attractive force between nuclei, and the pressure at different depths in the star lead to the formation of nuclear pasta. Similar to how neutrons act to stabilize heavy nuclei of conventional atoms against the electric repulsion of the protons, the protons act to stabilize the pasta phases. The nuclear attraction between protons and neutrons is greater than the nuclear attraction of two protons or two neutrons. The presence of a small population of protons is essential to the formation of nuclear pasta. At the core, the pressure is so great that this Coulomb repulsion cannot support individual nuclei, and some form of ultradense matter, such as the theorized quark–gluon plasma, should exist. Īt the surface, the pressure is low enough that conventional nuclei, such as helium and iron, can exist independently of one another and are not crushed together due to the mutual Coulomb repulsion of their nuclei. The result is a compact ball of nearly pure neutron matter with sparse protons and electrons interspersed, filling a space several thousand times smaller than the progenitor star. Rather, the intense gravitational attraction of the compact mass overcomes the electron degeneracy pressure and causes electron capture to occur within the star. Unlike their progenitor star, neutron stars do not consist of a gaseous plasma. Neutron stars form as remnants of massive stars after a supernova event. ![]()
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