Abstract
E. Witten (personal communication) has raised the intriguing possibility that nuclear matter consisting of aggregates of up, down and strange quarks in roughly equal proportions may be less massive than ordinary nuclear matter of the same quark number consisting of protons and neutrons (triplets of non-strange quarks). These nuggets of strange quark matter may be stable for almost any baryon number (A), including values intermediate between those of ordinary nuclei (A≲263) and neutron stars (A ∼ 1057). We use the term ‘nuclearite’ to describe such strange quark nuggets in collision with Earth and suggest experiments to detect these encounters.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Farhi, E. Preprint CTP 1160, Massachussetts Institute of Technology (1984).
Chin, S. & Kerman, A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 43, 1292–1295 (1971).
Rubin, V. C. Science 220, 1339–1344 (1983).
Opik, E. J. Physics of Meteor Flight, 87 (Interscience, New York, 1958).
De Rújula, A. et al. Phys. Rep. 99(6), 341–396 (1983).
Sulak, L. in Unification of the Fundamental Particle Interactions, 619 (Plenum, New York, 1980).
Ritson, D. M. Preprint UUHEP 82/2, University of Utah (1982).
Musset, P. CERN-EP Internal Rep. 82-4 (1983).
Price, P. B. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 52, 1265–1268 (1984).
Bolt, B. A. Nuclear Explosion and Earthquakes, 190 (Freeman, San Francisco, 1976).
Bolt, B. A. Nuclear Explosion and Earthquakes, 39 (Freeman, San Francisco, 1976).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
De Rújula, A., Glashow, S. Nuclearites—a novel form of cosmic radiation. Nature 312, 734–737 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/312734a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/312734a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
