2014/01/01 by Massimo Mannarelli
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Compact star #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Instability #Neutron star #Nuclear matter #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quark star #Stars #Strange matter #Strange quark #Supernova #astro-ph.HE #hep-ph #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/epjconf/20148000039
8 pages, 6 figures, proceedings of QCD@work-International Workshop on QCD - Theory and Experiment 2014
openalex publication_date 2014/01/01 · arxiv created 2014/09/12 · arxiv updated 2014/11/26 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Strange stars are one of the hypothetical compact stellar objects that can be formed after a supernova explosion. The existence of these objects relies on the absolute stability of strange collapsed quark matter with respect to standard nuclear matter. We discuss simple models of strange stars with a bare quark matter surface, thus standard nuclear matter is completely absent. In these models an electric dipole layer a few hundreds Fermi thick should exist close to the star surface. Studying the torsional oscillations of the electrically charged layer we estimate the emitted power, finding that it is of the order of 1045 erg/s, meaning that these objects would be among the brightest compact sources in the heavens. The associated relaxation times are very uncertain, with values ranging between microseconds and minutes, depending on the crust thickness. Although part of the radiated power should be absorbed by the electrosphere surrounding the strange star, a sizable fraction of photons should escape and be detectable.