Zara Mikaila Yunus

What is inside a neutron star?

Started May 7, 2025

Abstract or project description

For her project, Zara will be writing a pop-science article (or literature review) geared towards other high schoolers on neutron stars. She will include discussion on neutron star composition, relevant particle physics, and theories about the mystery of the inner core.

Neutron stars are one of the most extreme entities found in the universe, from their instantaneous spin, to their insane magnetic fields, to their mind-blowing densities. And although it’s easy to say they’re solely made up of neutrons, if they’re calculated gravity is enough to destroy atomic structure and break it down to the smallest of particles, how can we assume that neutrons can even exist in the inner core? As of today, we can only theorize what kind of weird particles/matter/substances lie inside the middle.

In this paper, I explore the full composition of a neutron star, from outer crust to inner core, and some bizarre theories that could be the answer to the very center of these stars.