Star Wreck

Electroweak models with low-energy supersymmetry breaking predict the existence of stable non-topological solitons, Q-balls, that can be produced in the early universe. The relic Q-balls can accumulate inside a neutron star and gradually absorb the baryons into the scalar condensate. This causes a slow reduction in the mass of the star. When the mass reaches a critical value, the neutron star becomes unstable and explodes. The cataclysmic destruction of the distant neutron stars may be the origin of the gamma-ray bursts.