As a child with myopia or nearsightedness, physicians advised me to observe the night sky’s stars to enhance my eyesight. I spent hours in the sky drawing big stars such as Polaris and constellations such as Ursa Minor. Within a few months, I was able to identify practically all significant stars in constellations. However, certain stars evaded not only my recollection but also my sight since they are unable to be located! These are known as the quark stars.

Every item in the cosmos is composed of atoms. Protons and neutrons, which are found deep within atoms, are formed of quarks, one of the fundamental building blocks of matter. Multiple scientists, including Walter Bodmer (1971), postulated that quark matter is composed of up, down, and weird quarks.

Up quarks are directed upwards, downward quarks point downward, and odd quarks are so long-lived that they ultimately decay into up and down quarks, thus their name. Gluons are another sort of subatomic particle that holds quark matter together. QGP refers to a chemically stable mixture of quarks and gluons. It has been dispersed across the cosmos in its early phases.

Neutron stars are among the most unique of the countless varieties of stars that exist. The average mass of these interstellar objects is 1.4 times that of the sun. Despite their immense size, they compress their nuclear materials into an area so compact that a teaspoon of their nuclear substance would weigh billions of tonnes.

The gasses within a highly dense star generate a great deal of pressure, forcing protons and neutrons to collide with a great deal of energy. This collision generates a miniature inferno in which everything “melts” into a quark-gluon plasma, producing a hyper phase of quark matter called a quark star. This collision will make enough quark matter if the pressure is sufficient to form a particle star, a star composed of 99 to 100 percent quark matter.

Scientists have spent decades attempting to prove the presence of a quark star. While a true quark star has not yet been discovered, quark matter has been observed in neutron stars. When two stars circle one other because of gravitational attraction, they transmit gravitational waves across the fabric of space.

The quantity of quark matter in stars influences the strength of gravitational waves. The feeble gravitational wave patterns found by scientists reflect the orbit of two neutron stars.

Furthermore, stars are not the only objects that emit gravitational waves in our universe.

Since both quark stars and black holes are extraordinarily massive celestial objects, the gravitation wave pattern suggesting quark matter closely resembles the merger event. Stellar pulsation is an observation that might help identify quark stars form black holes. It is a phenomenon that is unique to stars.

To maintain equilibrium, a star’s outermost part expands and shrinks. These stellar fluctuations create variations in the amount of light a star emits, resulting in pulsation reflected in the gravity wave picture.

Where does this leave us then? Unfortunately, no quark stars have been discovered yet, although there are a number of interesting candidates. Several leads formerly classified as neutron stars with more excellent gravitational wave patterns have been detected by cosmologists to determine if they are, in fact, quark stars.

In addition, several emission records from objects thought to be black holes are now being re-examined to ensure that they were not quark stars. If the scientists find something intriguing, the next step would be to obtain permission to send a drone to photograph what may be the first quark star.