Do strange stars exist in the Universe?

Abstract

Definitely, an affirmative answer to this question would have implications of fundamental importance for astrophysics (a new class of compact stars), and for the physics of strong interactions (deconfined phase of quark matter, and strange matter hypothesis). In the present work, we use observational data for the newly discovered millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 and for the atoll source 4U 1728-34 to constrain the radius of the underlying compact stars. Comparing the mass-radius relation of these two compact stars with theoretical models for both neutron stars and strange stars, we argue that a strange star model is more consistent with SAX J1808.4-3658 and 4U 1728-34, and suggest that they are likely strange star candidates.

In memory of Bhaskar Datta. -- Invited talk at the Pacific Rim Conference on Stellar Astrophysics (Hong Kong, aug. 1999)

References in corpus (4)

• Is SAX J1808.4-3658 a Strange Star ?
• Conversion of neutron stars to strange stars as the central engine of gamma-ray bursts
• Correlations between kHz QPO and Low Frequency Features Attributed to Radial Oscillations and Diffusive Propagation in the Viscous Boundary Layer Around a Neutron Star
• On the nature of the compact star in 4U 1728-34

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Temperature profiles of accretion discs around rapidly rotating strange stars in general relativity: a comparison with neutron stars