Quark Nova Project

The Quark Nova Project (QNP) is a group of scientists based out of the University of Calgary who are dedicated to the investigation of quark novae (QNe). A quark nova (QN) is the violent explosion resulting from the conversion of a neutron star core to quark matter through a process known as quark deconfinement. The result is a star made entirely of quarks; the quark star. This process would release immense amounts of energy, perhaps explaining the most energetic explosions in the universe; rough calculations have estimated that as much as 10⁴⁷ joules of energy could be released from the phase transition inside a neutron star. Quark-novae explain a multitude of astrophysical phenomena from gamma ray bursts through super-luminous super novae.