The importance of confinement for obtaining a unitary high-energy limit for QCD is discussed. Minijets'' are argued to build up non-unitary behavior{endash}when k{sub T} {gt} {Lambda} is imposed. For minijets to mix with low k{sub T} Pomeron Field Theory describing confinement, and give consistent asymptotic behavior, new quarks'' must enter the theory above the minijet transverse momentum scale. The Critical Pomeron is the resulting high-energy limit. 22 refs.

In a nine month run with a 150 GeV proton beam and a conventional double horn neutrino beam aimed at the Soudan 2 detector, a search could be made for neutrino oscillations in the mode /nu//sub /mu// /yields/ /nu//sub /tau//. If evidence for oscillations is not found, new limits could be set extending the /Delta/m/sup 2/ excluded region from .3 eV/sup 2/ to .004 eV/sup 2/ at 90% confidence level. 7 refs., 4 figs.

Soudan 2 is an 1100-ton tracking calorimeter which is being constructed to search for nucleon decay. The detector consists of finely segmented iron instrumented with drift tubes, and records three spatial coordinates and dE/dx for every gas crossing. Excellent event-reconstruction capability, particle identification, and muon sign and direction determination give superior rejection of the neutrino background to nucleon decay in many modes. The first 275 tons of Soudan 2 is operating and a charged-particle test beam calibration is under way. Construction is scheduled for completion in 1992. 4 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs.

We briefly review the current understanding of supernova. We investigate the implications of rapid rotation corresponding to the frequency of the new pulsar reported in the supernovae remnant SN1987A. It places very stringent conditions on the equation of state if the star is assumed to be bound by gravity alone. We find that the central energy density of the star must be greater than 12 times that of nuclear density to be stable against the most optimistic estimate of general relativistic instabilities. This is too high for the matter to plausibly consist of individual hadrons. We conclude that the newly discovered pulsar, if its half-millisecond signals are attributable to rotation, cannot be a neutron star. We show that it can be a strange quark star, and that the entire family of strange stars can sustain high rotation under appropriate conditions. We discuss the conversion of a neutron star to strange star, the possible existence of a crust of heavy ions held in suspension by centrifugal and electric forces, the cooling and other features. 39 refs., 8 figs., 2 tabs.