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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=617103119-23012010>In the psi
discussion, a good point is that new phyical phenomena are still being
discovered in our enlightened age.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=617103119-23012010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=617103119-23012010>Here's an exciting
development, electroweak stars:</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><A
href="http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/01/22/science-adds-new-class-stars-electroweak/?test=latestnews">http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/01/22/science-adds-new-class-stars-electroweak/?test=latestnews</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>
<H1 id=story-title><FONT face=Arial>Science Adds a New Class of Stars:
Electroweak</FONT></H1>
<P class=author><FONT face=Arial>By Clara Moskowitz</FONT></P>
<P class=source><FONT face=Arial> - Space.com </FONT></P>
<P id=story-dek class=deck><SPAN class=dateline><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN>
<P><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=617103119-23012010>N</SPAN>ASA/Russell Croman
Astrophotography</FONT></P>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: block" id=pane-browse-story-detail class=pane sizset="70"
sizcache="197">
<DIV class="img format-9" sizset="76" sizcache="196">
<P class=caption><FONT face=Arial>Physicsts believe a new class of stars --
dubbed "electroweak" stars -- are hiding out somewhere in the
universe.</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV class="bodytext smalltext" sizset="77" sizcache="196">
<P><FONT face=Arial>Scientists have proposed a new class of star, one with an
exotic stellar engine that would emit mostly hard-to-detect neutrinos instead of
photons of light like regular stars.</FONT></P>
<P sizset="77" sizcache="196"><FONT face=Arial>These objects, dubbed
"electroweak stars," are plausible because of the </FONT><A
href="http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070821_st_unified_theory.html"><FONT
face=Arial><B>Standard Mode</B>l</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial> of physics —
though none have been detected yet – partly because they wouldn't shine
very brightly in visible light.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>A team of physicists led by Glenn Starkman of Ohio's Case
Western Reserve University describe the structure of such stars in a paper
recently submitted to the journal <I>Physical Review Letters.</I></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>An electroweak star could come into being toward the end of
a massive star's life, after nuclear fusion has stopped in its core, but before
the star collapses into a black hole, the researchers found.</FONT></P>
<P sizset="78" sizcache="196"><FONT face=Arial>At this point, the temperature
and density inside a star could be so high, subatomic particles called </FONT><A
href="http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080603-aas-neutron-quark.html"><B><FONT
face=Arial>quarks</FONT></B></A><FONT face=Arial> (which are the building blocks
of protons and neutrons) could be converted into lighter particles called
leptons, which include electrons and neutrinos.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>"In this process, which we call electroweak burning, huge
amounts of energy can be released," the researchers wrote in the scientific
paper.</FONT></P>
<P sizset="79" sizcache="196"><FONT face=Arial>Unfortunately for observers, much
of that energy would be in the form of </FONT><A
href="http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080307-wmap-neutrinos.html"><B><FONT
face=Arial>neutrinos</FONT></B></A><FONT face=Arial>, which are very light
neutral particles that can pass through ordinary matter without interacting,
making them very difficult to detect.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>A small fraction of an electroweak star's output would be in
the form of light, though, which is where astronomers could concentrate their
efforts to observe them. But, "to understand that small fraction, we have to
understand the star better than we do," Starkman said.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>If electroweak stars do exist, they could last at least 10
million years, the physicists found.</FONT></P>
<P sizset="80" sizcache="196"><FONT face=Arial>"This is long enough to represent
a new stage in the evolution of a star if </FONT><A
href="http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060418_star_clusters.html"><B><FONT
face=Arial>stellar evolution</FONT></B></A><FONT face=Arial> can take it there,"
the researchers wrote.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Nonetheless, such a period of time is still merely a blink
of an eye for most stars, which live for billions of years.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>"Electroweak stars would be an exciting addition to the
diverse menagerie of astrophysical bodies that the universe provides," the
scientists wrote. "Nevertheless, considerable work remains to be done before we
can claim with confidence that such objects will form in the natural process of
stellar evolution, or that they will indeed burn steadily for an extended
period."</FONT></P>
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