Strange Matter

Specialties

We do things a little differently at Strange Matter.

All of our menu prices include tax, there are over a dozen classic arcade games to play, our beer list includes everything from malt liquor to fancy regional microbrews, the walls are literally covered with murals by distinguished local artists, and we host live music events almost every night.

Not convinced yet? Come by on a Tuesday between 5−10pm for half price burger night. Four dollars for a generously sized burger (or lentil burger) and a side. Or, pop in for happy hour, $ 1 off all drafts 4−7pm Mon-​Fri. So on a Tuesday from 5−7pm, you could conceivably get a burger, fries, and a brew for $ 5.50 (tax included). That’s less expensive than a value meal.

Go to strange​mat​ter​rva​.com for more information, or just stop in! We’re between Harrison and Shafer on W. Grace St., in the heart of VCU.

History

Established in 2010.

Two meanings of the term «strange matter»

In particle physics and astrophysics, the term is used in two ways, one broader and on more specific.

The broader meaning is just quark matter that contains three flavors of quarks: up, down, and strange. In this definition, there is a critical pressure and an associated critical density, and when nuclear matter is compressed beyond this density, the protons and neutrons dissociate into quarks, yielding quark matter (probably strange matter).

The narrower meaning is quark matter that is more stable than nuclear matter. The idea that this could happen is the «strange matter hypothesis.» In this definition, the critical pressure is zero: the true ground state of matter is always quark matter. The nuclei that we see in the matter around us, which are droplets of nuclear matter, are actually metastable, and given enough time (or the right external stimulus) would decay into droplets of strange matter, i.e. strangelets.