Bulk strong matter: the trinity

Abstract

Our world is wonderful because of the normal but negligibly small baryonic part (i.e. atoms) although unknown dark matter and dark energy dominate the Universe. A stable atomic nucleus could be simply termed as ‘strong matter’ since its nature is dominated by the fundamental strong interaction. Is there any other form of strong matter? Although nuclei are composed of 2-flavoured (i.e. up and down flavours of valence quarks) nucleons, it is conjectured that bulk strong matter could be 3-flavoured (with additional strange quarks) if the baryon number exceeds the critical value, Ac in which case quarks could be either free (so-called strange quark matter) or localized (in strangeons, coined by combining ‘strange nucleon’). Bulk strong matter could be manifested in the form of compact stars, cosmic rays, and even dark matter. This trinity will be explained in this brief review that may impact dramatically on today’s physics, particularly in the era of multi-messenger astronomy after the discovery of gravitational wave.