[Physics] How would neutron matter appear to the naked eye

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Neutron matter is matter comprised entirely of neutrons, as it exists in neutron stars.

Most optical phenomena encountered in everyday life, such as light reflection and spectral absorption (i.e. color appearance) are the result of mechanisms involving electrons.

My simple question: How would a macroscopic sample of matter consisting entirely of neutrons (without electrons) appear to the naked eye? Assume the matter is degenerate and stable.

Let me add here that I'm not specifically asking about the appearance of a neutron star, as Wikipedia states that it would radiate so much that it appears white.

Best Answer

This is mostly conjecture, based on physics and common sense.

We know that photons couple to other (charged) particles via the electromagnetic force. Whilst neutrons themselves have zero charge, they are comprised of bound (u,d,d) quarks, which are charged, and with which, the photons could interact.

The density of pure neutron matter would be extremely high, so even a small amount of it would contain a lot of neutrons, and thus many opportunities for photons to interact with quarks. Photons will either scatter directly off the neutrons or briefly induce an excited state, which would decay of the order of $10^{-24}$s, emitting a photon of equivalent energy.

As a simple model, this is not too conceptually different from why clouds appear the way they do (white when thin, black when dense - if the light source is behind the cloud). Therefore, I would conjecture that a lump of neutronic matter would appear black if in front of a light source and white if behind it.

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