The term quark-novae was coined in 2002 by Dr. Rachid Ouyed (currently at the University of Calgary, Canada)[1] and Drs.
The process would release immense amounts of energy, perhaps explaining the most energetic explosions in the universe; calculations have estimated that as much as 1046 J could be released from the phase transition inside a neutron star.
According to Jaikumar and collaborators, they may also be involved in producing heavy elements such as platinum through r-process nucleosynthesis.
This amounts to a small fraction of the projected neutron star population.
A conservative estimate based on this, indicates that up to two quark-novae may occur in the observable universe each day.