Elsevier

Nuclear Physics A

Volume 434, 25 February 1985, Pages 605-626
Nuclear Physics A

Aborigines of the nuclear desert

https://doi.org/10.1016/0375-9474(85)90525-1Get rights and content

Abstract

The chart of “stable nuclides” extends from Hydrogen, to Z ∼ 98, A ∼ 263. It contains another island of stability - neutron stars - in a narrow range around Z ∼ 1056, A ∼ 1057. In between lies a supposedly barren region encompassing more than 50 orders of magnitude. This desert may be populated by strange quark balls: stable single bags containing similar proportions of u, d and s quarks. These balls are candidates for the constituency of the “dark mass” in galaxies and in the Universe. We describe seven ways to search for these possible inhabitants of the nuclear desert.

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    Based on work done with S.L. Glashow.

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