Strange matter

TLDR

Witten has conjectured that strange matter may be absolutely stable. The study explores the properties of quark matter in weak equilibrium with comparable up, down, and strange quark numbers and discusses its phenomenology. The authors employ a Fermi‑gas model with QCD corrections, extended by surface‑tension and Coulomb terms for intermediate baryon numbers and a bag‑model treatment for low baryon numbers, to determine stability conditions and properties of strange matter. They establish the bulk stability conditions for strange matter and describe its characteristics.

Abstract

We explore the properties of quark matter in equilibrium with the weak interactions, containing comparable numbers of up, down, and strange quarks. Witten has recently conjectured that this "strange matter" may be absolutely stable. Using a Fermi-gas model including $O({\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{c})$ corrections we establish the conditions under which strange matter in bulk is stable and describe its characteristics. Augmenting our model with surface-tension and Coulomb effects we study strange matter with intermediate baryon number ${10}^{2}\ensuremath{\lesssim}A\ensuremath{\lesssim}{10}^{7}$. For low baryon numbers $A\ensuremath{\lesssim}{10}^{2}$, we replace the Fermi gas by the bag model and study shell effects and the approach to the bulk limit. Finally, we discuss the phenomenology of strange matter in all its forms.