  It is generally agreed on that the tremendous densities reached in the
centers of neutron stars provide a high-pressure environment in which numerous
novel particles processes are likely to compete with each other. These
processes range from the generation of hyperons to quark deconfinement to the
formation of kaon condensates and H-matter. There are theoretical suggestions
of even more exotic processes inside neutron stars, such as the formation of
absolutely stable strange quark matter, a configuration of matter even more
stable than the most stable atomic nucleus, iron. In the latter event, neutron
stars would be largely composed of pure quark matter, eventually enveloped in a
thin nuclear crust. No matter which physical processes are actually realized
inside neutron stars, each one leads to fingerprints, some more pronounced than
others though, in the observable stellar quantities. This feature combined with
the unprecedented progress in observational astronomy, which allows us to see
vistas with remarkable clarity that previously were only imagined, renders
neutron stars to nearly ideal probes for a wide range of physical studies,
including the role of strangeness in dense matter.
