Pulsars: Gigantic Nuclei

TL;DR

This paper explores the fundamental nature of pulsars, proposing they are akin to gigantic nuclei, and discusses their relation to strong interactions and quantum chromodynamics, linking astrophysics with particle physics.

Contribution

It introduces the idea that pulsars are similar to gigantic nuclei, offering a new perspective on their composition and the underlying strong interaction physics involved.

Findings

Pulsars are analogous to gigantic nuclei in structure.

The behavior of pulsars reflects properties of strong interaction.

This analogy provides insights into non-perturbative quantum chromodynamics.

Abstract

What is the real nature of pulsars? This is essentially a question of the fundamental strong interaction between quarks at low-energy scale and hence of the non-perturbative quantum chromo-dynamics, the solution of which would certainly be meaningful for us to understand one of the seven millennium prize problems (i.e., "Yang-Mills Theory") named by the Clay Mathematical Institute. After a historical note, it is argued here that a pulsar is very similar to an extremely big nucleus, but is a little bit different from the {\em gigantic nucleus} speculated 80 years ago by L. Landau. The paper demonstrates the similarity between pulsars and gigantic nuclei from both points of view: the different manifestations of compact stars and the general behavior of the strong interaction.