title: What will happen when a Java thread is set to null?
body: <p>After a thread started, if the reference of the thread is set to <code>null</code>, what will happen to the thread?  Does it stop? Is it eligible for GC?</p>
  
  <p>Like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>t.start();
  t = null;
  </code></pre>