Neutron stars are doomed if vacuum energy goes wild

Wait, what? Vacuum energy? Even in the vacuum of space, there’s energy— not a whole lot of it, but apparently it’s enough that if it’s concentrated enough around a neutron star, the whole neutron star could collapse. And that’s all the introduction I can write about that… this is all news to me.

What is often thought of as the empty vacuum of space is actually filled with ghostly energy and virtual particles wavering in and out of existence, a bizarre prediction of quantum theory that numerous experiments have proven true.

This “vacuum energy,” as scientists call it, is usually thought of as extremely weak at best. But theoretical physicists in Brazil suggest that the immensely powerful gravitational fields of neutron stars could “awaken the vacuum,” causing its energy to build up exponentially very quickly.

The extraordinary density of neutron stars means they possess incredibly strong gravitational pulls that warp the fabric of space-time, distortions that could drive up vacuum energy. Surprisingly, the researchers found the vacuum energy in the neighborhood of a neutron star could keep building exponentially, depending on the size and mass of the neutron star. This could rapidly cause the vacuum energy to exceed the neutron star’s combined mass and energy. The neutron star could then either collapse to form a black hole or explode and shed a significant fraction of its mass — the intricate calculations as to what exactly might occur are not yet complete, Vanzella said. Read more...