Electroweak stars: how nature may capitalize on the standard model's
  ultimate fuel
  We study the possible existence of an electroweak star - a compact
stellar-mass object whose central core temperature is higher than the
electroweak symmetry restoration temperature. We found a solution to the
Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations describing such an object. The parameters
of such a star are not substantially different from a neutron star - its mass
is around 1.3 Solar masses while its radius is around 8 km. What is different
is the existence of a small electroweak core. The source of energy in the core
that can at least temporarily balance gravity are standard-model
non-perturbative baryon number (B) and lepton number (L) violating processes
that allow the chemical potential of $B+L$ to relax to zero. The energy
released at the core is enormous, but gravitational redshift and the enhanced
neutrino interaction cross section at these energies make the energy release
rate moderate at the surface of the star. The lifetime of this new
quasi-equilibrium can be more than ten million years. This is long enough to
represent a new stage in the evolution of a star if stellar evolution can take
it there.
