Jun 17 – 21, 2019
Europe/Budapest timezone

Compact Ultradense Objects: Something Strange is Flying Around

Jun 20, 2019, 5:20 PM
40m

Speaker

Johann Rafelski (The University of Arizona)

Description

Where is the meteorite? Just maybe it went into the Earth: we consider compact ultra-dense objects (CUDO) meteors made predominantly of ultra dense matter such as STRANGElet = fragments of neutron stars filled with strange quarks, DARK MATTER bound objects, MICRO BLACK HOLES. For such exotic impactors each planet or moon is a macroscopic detector accumulating CUDO impact signature over geological time scale. Only a fraction of the CUDO kinetic energy is damaging the entry/exit surface regions since CUDOs high density of gravitating matter assures surface-penetrating puncture -- shot into, and even through, a moon or the planet. CUDOs could be the origin of hot-spots (random location shield volcanoes that are fed from depth of Earth across solid crust). Recent (geologically) CUDOs maybe recognized by impact (exit) features such as the cave in Pavonis Mons on Mars, and on Earth by coincident impactor with climatic excursions created by high atmosphere "volcanic" eruption (happening usually without a known volcano!). Rocky objects in solar system accumulate impact scars for billions of years. Asteroid belt could harbor captured CUDOS with 31 Polyhymnia a high density (75g/cc!) candidate and the "egg in space" offering another suspect case. Last not least, the Earth energy balance could depend on captured CUDOs.

Come in good company, lecture to be entertaining and (mostly) non-technical, equations inadvertently appearing on slides will be (mostly) skipped.

Primary author

Johann Rafelski (The University of Arizona)

Presentation materials