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# Solid Quark Stars?

## 1 Introduction

The gauge theory of strong interaction, the quantum chromodynamics (QCD), is still developing, which is nevertheless well known to have two general properties: asymptotic freedom in smaller scales ($`0.1`$ fm) and color confinement in larger scales ($`1`$ fm). These result in two distinct phases depicted in the diagram in terms of temperature $`T`$ vs. baryon chemical potential $`\mu _\mathrm{b}`$: the hadron gas (in the region of low $`T`$ and $`\mu _\mathrm{b}`$) and the quark matter (of high $`T`$ or $`\mu _\mathrm{b}`$). The former has been studied well in nuclear physics, but the later is expected to be a new phase which has never been found with certainty yet. There are actually two kinds of quark matter in research: the temperature-dominated phase which may appear in the early universe or in relativistic heavy-ion colliders, and the density-dominated phase, speculated only in astrophysical compact objects, which is the focus of this letter.

One can not naively think that the density-dominated quark matter is simply a Fermi-gas with weak interaction. In fact, the attraction, no matter how weak it is, between quarks renders the Fermi-sea unstable to the quark Cooper pairing of the BCS type in a color superconducting state (Alford, Bowers & Rajagopal 2001, and references therein). This kind of condensation in momentum space takes place in case of same Fermi momenta; whereas “LOFF”-like state may occur if the Fermi momenta of two (or more) species of quarks are different. For 3 flavors of massless quarks, all nine quarks may pair in a pattern which locks color and flavor symmetries, as called color-flavor locked (CFL) state.

We suggest, however, an alternative “condensation” in position space for quark matter with high baryon density, and discuss the possibility of such matter in a solid state and its various astrophysical implications. We are concerned about the most probable compact objects composted entirely of deconfined light quarks, the so called strange stars (e.g., Glendenning 2000). In fact a few authors had got involved in this possibility more or less. By extending the bag-model study on any color-singlet multi-quark system, Jaffe (1977) predicted an S-wave flavor-singlet state of 6-quark cluster ($`H`$ particle). An 18-quark cluster (called quark-alpha, $`Q_\alpha `$) being completely symmetric in spin, color, and flavor space was also proposed (Michel 1988), which could be essential to reproduce pulsar glitches by modifying significantly the strange star structures (Benvenuto, Horvath & Vucetich 1990).

## 2 Can quark matter be solid?

There are virtually two ingredients which affect the formation of quark cluster in quark-gluon plasma: the Pauli’s exclusion principle and the interactions. Suppose we “turn-off” the interactions at first. Let’s consider two quarks for simplicity. The wave function of quarks is $`\mathrm{\Psi }(1,2)=\mathrm{\Psi }^{\mathrm{inner}}(1,2)\mathrm{\Psi }^{\mathrm{position}}(1,2)`$, where $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{\mathrm{inner}}(1,2)`$ describes particles in inner space while $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{\mathrm{position}}(1,2)`$ in position space. Due to the identical principle of fermions, these two quarks exchange asymmetrically, i.e., $`P_{12}\mathrm{\Psi }(1,2)=\mathrm{\Psi }(1,2)`$, with $`P_{12}=P_{12}^rP_{12}^\sigma P_{12}^fP_{12}^c`$, where $`r,\sigma ,f,c`$ denote the position, spin, flavor, and color freedoms, respectively. Quarks have a tendency to condensate in position space if $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{\mathrm{position}}(1,2)`$ is exchange-symmetric,

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{AB}}^{\mathrm{position}}(1,2)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mathrm{A}(1)\mathrm{\Phi }_\mathrm{B}(2)+\mathrm{\Phi }_\mathrm{B}(1)\mathrm{\Phi }_\mathrm{A}(2)],$$
(1)
while $`P_{12}\mathrm{\Psi }^{\mathrm{inner}}(1,2)=\mathrm{\Psi }^{\mathrm{inner}}(1,2)`$. Eq.(1) shows that the possibility of one quark “hobnobbing” with another is high. But this possibility is almost zero if $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{\mathrm{position}}(1,2)`$ is exchange-antisymmetric. In order to see the significance of this exchange effect, Zhang & Yu (2002) have calculated the matrix of operator $`P_{12}`$, and find that, for a system with two baryons of S-wave, it is favored to form some bound states of 6-quark cluster, e.g., ($`\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega }`$), ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Delta }`$), etc.

Whether quark clusters can form relies also on the model-dependent color, electro-magnetic, and weak interactions, particularly the dominate color one. We therefore conjecture the existence of $`n`$-quark clusters in quark matter, leaving $`n`$ as a free parameter, possibly from 1 to 18, or to be even larger. Note that $`n`$ may depend on temperature and baryon density, and that more than one kind of quark clusters may appear at a certain phase (i.e., quark clusters with different $`n`$’s could coexist). Although these hypothetic quark clusters may not form in terrestrial laboratory environments with low baryon density (or $`\mu _\mathrm{b}`$), it is very likely that quarks could be clustered in the “deconfined” phase, especially in the strange quark matter assumed to be absolutely stable.

The next step is to investigate the melting temperature $`T_\mathrm{m}^n`$ for the component of $`n`$-quark clusters. The quark matter could be solid as long as the temperature $`T`$ is less than one of $`T_\mathrm{m}^n`$’s. The $`n`$-quark clusters might be divided into two classes: color singlet or not. The former would be the quark analog of molecules (e.g., H2O and CO2), the short-distanced color force (the color “Van der Waals force”) between which could crystallize the clusters at low $`T`$ (as an experiment example of H2O, water boils at 100oC when density $``$1 g/cm3, but freezes even at 300oC when density $``$1.5 g/cm3), and the later is of ionic lattice (e.g., NaCl, ZnS, something like plasma solid rather than fluid) when $`T<T_\mathrm{m}^n`$. Due to the color screen in quark-gluon plasma, $`n`$-quark clusters with color charge can not interact in long range but is also short-distanced. Phase transition, which could be more than once, occurs when one component of the $`n`$-quark clusters begins to be fixed at certain lattices as the matter cools. We may assume a Van der Waals-type potential between $`n`$-quark clusters since both kinds of clusters interact in short distance. The melting temperature $`T_\mathrm{m}\epsilon _\mathrm{B}`$, where $`\epsilon _\mathrm{B}`$ is the Van der Waals binding energy. For conventional solid matter bound with the electric interaction (Weisskopf 1985), $`\epsilon _\mathrm{B}(110)`$ kcal/mol \[or $`(0.050.5)`$ eV\], and the distance between two nearby atoms is $`r_\mathrm{a}(24)`$ Å. For two unit charges at this separation, the interaction energy could be $`ϵe^2/r_\mathrm{a}(74)`$ eV. Therefore, due to the electric screen effect, the binding reduces by a factor of $`S_\mathrm{e}=ϵ/\epsilon _\mathrm{B}(10200)`$. If the interaction between quarks could be described as a Coulomb-like potential (e.g., Lucha et al. 1991), $`V(r)\alpha _\mathrm{s}/r`$ with $`\alpha _\mathrm{s}g_\mathrm{s}^2/4\pi `$ and $`g_\mathrm{s}`$ the strong coupling constant, the Van der Waals-type binding energy between $`n`$-quark clusters could be $`\epsilon _\mathrm{B}\alpha _\mathrm{s}(n_\mathrm{b}/n)^{1/3}/S_\mathrm{c}`$, where $`S_\mathrm{c}`$ is the correspond color screen factor, $`n_\mathrm{b}`$ the baryon number density. For quark matter with about two times of normal nuclear matter density, $`n_\mathrm{b}0.3\mathrm{fm}^3`$, $`n10`$, $`\alpha _\mathrm{s}1`$, and $`S_\mathrm{c}S_e`$, we have $`T_\mathrm{m}^n\epsilon _\mathrm{B}(0.36)`$ MeV which is much larger than the surface temperatures observed ($`100`$ eV, e.g., Xu 2002) of potential strange star candidates. A newborn strange stars could thus be solidified soon after supernova. The nature of this kind solid quark matter may depend on the quark cluster structures (Liu et al. 2003) too.

## 3 Tests for the solid strange star ideal

How can we make sure whether a strange star candidate is solid or not? Although the possibility of solid cold quark matter can not be ruled out, unfortunately, due to the complex nonlinearity of QCD, it is almost impossible to draw a certain conclusion yet from the first principles. Nonetheless, possible critical observational tests are addressed, which may finally present a clear answer to the question.

Polarization of thermal photons? For hot bare strange star (BSS) with temperature $`T>T_\mathrm{u}10^9`$ K ($`0.1`$ MeV), the mechanism, proposed by Usov (1998), of pair production and their annihilation works (e.g., Usov 2001). Such a hot BSS is in a fluid state if $`T>T_\mathrm{m}`$. However, a cold strange star with $`T<T_\mathrm{m}`$ is solid, and the Usov mechanism doesn’t work if $`T<T_\mathrm{u}`$. The photon emissivity may not be negligible in this case since the opinion, that the BSS surfaces should be very poor radiators at $`T\mathrm{}\omega _\mathrm{p}20`$ MeV ($`\omega _\mathrm{p}`$ is the plasma frequency), is for fluid plasma rather than solid one.

In a BSS, although part (or all) of the quarks are clustered in fixed lattices, electrons with number density $`n_\mathrm{e}10^4n_\mathrm{b}`$ are free (the density of free electrons could be much smaller if part of electrons and clusters form “atoms” or “ions”). The interactions of an electron with another one, or with the lattices ($`n`$-quark clusters), could be responsible to the thermal photon radiation. Electrons are in the levels of the energy bands (rather than discrete levels) because of their motion in a periodic lattice. This may result in a featureless spectrum as observed (Xu 2002). The thermal emission of such a solid could be analogous to that of metals (Born & Wolf 1980) to some extent. According to Kirchhoff’s law of thermal radiation, the spectral emissivity

$$\psi (\nu ,T)=\alpha (\nu ,T)B(\nu ,T),$$
(2)
where $`\alpha (\nu ,T)`$ is the spectral absorptance, and $`B(\nu ,T)`$ is the Plank function of blackbody thermal radiation. Therefore it is essential to calculate $`\alpha (\nu ,T)`$ in order to have a thermal spectrum of BSSs. We are embarrassed if we try to obtain an exact absorptance $`\alpha (\nu ,T)`$ from QCD phenomenological models. Nevertheless, $`\alpha (\nu ,T)`$ can be calculated in classical electrodynamics, which is a function of electric conductivity (Born & Wolf 1980).

Within the realm of solid bare strange stars, Zhang et al. (2003) have fitted well the 500ks Chandra LETG/HRC data for RX J1856.5-3754 in the spectral model of Eq.(2), with a spectral absorptance of metals (Born & Wolf 1980), $`\alpha (\nu )=1[2\sigma /\nu +12\sqrt{\sigma /\nu }]/[2\sigma /\nu +1+2\sqrt{\sigma /\nu }]`$, where $`\sigma `$ is the conductivity, which could be a function of temperature $`T`$. They found a low limit of electric conductivity of quark matter $`\sigma >1.8\times 10^{17}`$ s-1, with the fitted radiation temperature $`T_{\mathrm{}}60`$ eV and radius $`R_{\mathrm{}}>5.3`$ km. If the electrons near the Fermi surface are responsible for the conduction, one has $`\sigma =n_\mathrm{e}e^2\tau /m_{}`$, where the electron number density $`n_\mathrm{e}10^{34}`$ cm-3, $`e`$ the electron charge, $`\tau `$ the relaxation time, and $`m_{}`$ the effective electron mass. For the case of free degenerated gas, we have $`\tau >1.2\times 10^{21}`$ s. If electron-electron collisions are responsible for the conduction, one can obtain the relaxation time (e.g., Flowers & Itoh 1976; Potekhin et al. 1997). Using the Appendix A.1 by Potekhin et al. (1997) as an estimate, one has $`\tau 2.3\times 10^{16}`$ s for typical parameters. The value could be larger or smaller if 1, part of electrons are captured by lattices by Coulomb force, and 2, other interactions (e.g., electron-phonon, electron-defect) are included, respectively. In summary, the conductivity fitted could be reasonable.

None-atomic feature is found in the thermal spectra detected, which is suggested to be evidence for bare strange stars (Xu 2002; note: the absorptions in 1E 1207.4-5209 are very probably associated with cyclotron lines, see Bignami et al. 2003, Xu et al. 2003). How can a neutron star reproduce such a spectrum? Strong magnetic fields may help, for instance, RXJ1856 to do this, since a condensation transition in the outermost layers may occur if RXJ1856 has a high magnetic field ($`>10^{13}`$G for Fe and $`>10^{14}`$G for H atmospheres, respectively; Turolla, Zane & Drake 2003). However, in such a strong magnetic field, the surface thermal X-ray emission should have a peculiar nature of polarization (e.g., Gnedin & Sunyaev 1974; Lai & Ho 2003: the polarization plane at $`<1`$ keV is perpendicular to that at $`>3`$ keV). But if RXJ1856 is a solid BSS with normal magnetic field ($`10^{12}`$ G), the surface density $`\rho >10^{14}`$ g/cm3, and the particle kinematic energy density is thus much greater than the magnetic one, $`\rho c^2B^2`$. We expect therefore, for solid BSSs, that the magnetic effect on the thermal photon emission is negligible, and that the polarization of X-rays is much lower. These results provide a possibility to test neutron or strange star models (e.g., for RXJ1856) by X-ray polarimetry in the future, if the depolarization effect in the magnetosphere is negligible. Rapid rotating may smear a possible spectral line, but a fast-rotating pulsar can hardly be “dead”. Further differences between the high-energy emission of a solid BSS with $`10^{12}`$ G and a neutron star with $`10^{12}`$ G might be possible if vacuum nonlinear electrodynamic effects are included (Denisov & Svertilov 2003).

Pulsar timing? The spin variation of the earth could be an effective probe to earth’s interior (e.g., the Chandler wobble and the ten-year timescale change of spin may show various kinds of coupling between the fluid core and the solid mantle). It is also possible to investigate pulsar interior by timing, the great precision of which is unique in astronomy. Apart from planets, radio pulsars are another example of solid state matter in the universe for which glitch is clear and direct evidence. Radio pulsars, at lest part of them, could be BSSs for the peculiar nature of drifting subpulses (Xu et al. 1999) though these phenomena may also be explained if the actual surface magnetic field at the polar cap of neutron stars is very strong ($`10^{13}`$ G) and highly non-dipolar (Gil & Melikidze 2002). Furthermore, precessions and glitches observed may be well understood if pulsars are solid BSSs.

The equilibrium figures of rotating stars can be approximated by Maclaurin spheroids. For the earth, such an eccentricity calculated is $`e=0.092`$, which is of the same order observed ($`e=0.083`$). PSR B1828-11 has a rotation frequency $`\omega =2\pi /0.405`$ s-1, and precesses with probably a frequency $`\omega _\mathrm{p}=2\pi /500`$ day-1 (Stairs et al. 2000, Link & Epstein 2001). In case of homogenous ellipsoid approximation, $`\omega _\mathrm{p}/\omega 0.5e^2`$ (for $`e1`$), with the eccentricity $`e=\sqrt{a^2c^2}/a`$ ($`a`$, $`c`$ are the semimajor and semiminor axes, respectively). We have $`e=1.4\times 10^4`$ from the precession observation, but $`e=2.2\times 10^3`$ from a calculation of a Maclaurin spheroid with one solar mass and 10 km in radius. This discrepancy could be due to: 1, the homogenous approximation, 2, the general relativistic effect, and 3, the strong interaction if the pulsar is actually a strange star (no eccentricity if the centrifugal effect is negligible).

The observation of PSR B1828-11 precession means that the vortex pinning is much weaker than that predicted in pulsar glitch models. If PSR B1828-11 is a vortex unpinning neutron star with a spherical superfluid core, the observation may be of the crust precession (see Eq.(32) of §384 in: Lamb 1932). But if it is with an elliptical fluid core (the crust mass $`10^5M_{}`$ is negligible), the precession frequency could be (Eq.(42) of §384 in: Lamb 1932) $`\omega _\mathrm{p}\omega /e\omega `$, which conflicts with observations. More than these, in both cases, the crust could be deformed irrecoverably by the inertial force of the fluid core, since the anelasticity crust have a tendency to spin along one of the principal inertial axes.

For such a neutron star with radius $`R`$, the strain $`\dot{\alpha }\tau /\alpha `$, and the stress $`(2\pi /3)e^2R^2\rho \alpha ^2\omega ^2`$, with $`\alpha `$ the angle between rotational and principal axes and $`\tau `$ the timescale of relaxation. One has thus $`\alpha (t)[(4\pi /3\mu \tau )e^2R^2\rho \omega ^2t+\alpha _0^1]^{1/2}`$, where the shear modulus of neutron star crusts could be (Fuchs 1936) $`\mu ^{\mathrm{NS}}=2.8\times 10^{28}\delta Z_{26}^2A_{56}^{4/3}\rho _{11}^{4/3}\mathrm{erg}/\mathrm{cm}^3`$ ($`\delta =0.37`$, ions have charge $`Z=26Z_{26}`$ and mass number $`A=56A_{56}`$, and the density $`\rho =\rho _{11}10^{11}`$g/cm3), and $`\alpha _0=\alpha (0)`$. In case of $`\alpha _03^\mathrm{o}`$ (Link & Epstein 2001), the timescale for $`\alpha `$ change from $`\alpha _0`$ to $`\alpha _0/2`$ is then

$$T_{1/2}^{\mathrm{NS}}9.1\times 10^5\tau ^{\mathrm{NS}}\mu _{28}\rho _{11}^1,$$
(3)
where $`\mu _{28}=\mu /(10^{28}`$erg/cm$`{}_{}{}^{3})`$. However for the pulsar being a solid strange star, the corresponding value is $`T_{1/2}^{\mathrm{SS}}9.1\times 10^3\tau ^{\mathrm{SS}}\mu _{32}\rho _{15}^1`$, which should be more than 8 orders lager than $`T_{1/2}^{\mathrm{NS}}`$ ($`\mu ^{\mathrm{SS}}10^{32}`$ erg/cm3, see Eq.(4), and the stress of solid stars $`(2\pi /3)R^2\rho \alpha ^2\omega ^2`$). Such a great difference may be used to test the solid strange star model by obtaining the beam width change as the precession amplitude decays, although the absolute timescales of $`\tau ^{\mathrm{NS}}`$ and $`\tau ^{\mathrm{SS}}`$ are still uncertain.

Glitches observed may be well understood if pulsars are solid strange stars. As a pulsar slows down and therefore the centrifugal force decreases, stresses develop due to (1) reducing the stellar volume, and (2) a less oblate equilibrium shape. Both these should result in the decrease of the moment of inertia, but the star’s rigidity resists the stresses until the star cracks when the stresses reach a critical value. Such a “starquake”, an analogy of earthquake, rearrange the stellar matter, and thus decreases abruptly the inertia momentum. This global starquake with mass $`M_{}`$ could reproduce large vela-like glitches, while the crust ($`10^5M_{}`$) quake of neutron stars cannot. In addition, the starquake may excite precession.

Asteroseismology? It is well known that oscillation modes can provide much information on stellar interior, the apotheosis of which is of helioseismology which has largely confirmed the main elements of the standard solar model. We have then a chance to test the solid strange star model by asteroseismology. According to the differences of restoring forces, oscillation modes can be divided into $`p`$ressure-mode (by pressure gradient), $`g`$ravitational mode (by buoyancy in gravity), $`r`$otation-mode (by Coriolis force in rotating stars), and $`s`$hear-mode (by shear force). The essence of a solid object is none-zero shear modulus, $`\mu 0`$, which means that $`p`$\- and $`s`$-modes can exist, but $`g`$\- and $`r`$-modes do not.

Fortunately variety of pulsation modes of fluid neutron stars have been investigated previously (e.g., Andersso & Comer 2001), the results of which may provide an order-of-magnitude insight into fluid strange stars. It is found (Andersso & Comer 2001) that the glitches of pulsars can excite the modes large enough to be detected in the future gravitational-wave detector (EURO with or without photon shotnoise) if they are in a superfluid state. However no gravitational-wave can be observed if glitching pulsars are solid strange stars in EURO since, especially, no $`r`$-mode instability can occur there. It is not sure whether significant gravitational-waves can be observed in EURO soon after a supernova if solid quark matter is possible, since we lack exact knowledge of melting temperature $`T_\mathrm{m}`$. The dynamics of supernova gravitational-wave should (not) be changed significantly if $`T_\mathrm{m}>10`$ MeV ($`T_\mathrm{m}<1`$ MeV). It is true that a nascent hot strange star may be fluidity, and its spin frequency is limited due to the gravitational radiation caused by $`r`$-mode instability (Madsen 1998). However for cold recycled millisecond pulsars, if being solid, the upper limit of rotation frequency could be much larger than that given by Madsen (2000).

Asteroseismology may validate the elastic properties of solid strange stars. Quasi-periodic oscillations with $``$kHz (kHz QPSs) are found in “neutron” stars, but not in black hole candidates (BHCs) (van der Klis 2000). This might be an unique signature of the center “neutron” stars. In addition, a recent study with improved technique of data processing shows that QPOs of “neutron” stars are quite different from that of BHCs; the former could be originated by stochastic oscillations, but the later by periodic modulations (Li & Chen 2003). Could the kHz QPOs be caused by the global oscillations of a solid strange star?

We propose an alternative mechanism for kHz QPOs, that torsional oscillations, rather than radial ones, could excite effectively the transverse Alfvén waves in magnetospheres and then affect the accretion rates, while the global oscillations are excited by accretion of varying rates with randomicity. The solution of free oscillations of a uniform elastic sphere can be found in Garland (1979). The torsional oscillation frequency is $`\nu =x(l)v_\mathrm{s}/(2\pi R)`$, with the velocity of shear waves $`v_\mathrm{s}=(\mu ^{\mathrm{SS}}/\rho )^{1/2}`$ and $`x(l)`$ is a function of degree $`l`$ of spherical harmonics ({$`x(1)=5.8,9.1,12.3,\mathrm{}`$} and {$`x(2)=2.5,7.1,10.5,\mathrm{}`$} for $`l=1,2`$, respectively). If kHz QPOs originates in this way, we can obtain the shear modulus for solid strange stars,

$$\mu ^{\mathrm{SS}}=4\times 10^{32}x_{10}^2R_6^2\rho _{15}\nu _3^2\mathrm{erg}/\mathrm{cm}^3,$$
(4)
where $`x=x/10`$, $`R_6=R/(10^6`$cm), $`\rho _{15}=\rho /(10^{15}`$g/cm$`{}_{}{}^{3})`$, and $`\nu _3=\nu /(10^3`$Hz). That $`\mu ^{\mathrm{SS}}>>\mu ^{\mathrm{NS}}`$ is unsurprising since quark matter is much denser than normal one.

## 4 Discussions

The ideal of solid quark matter is proposed, and three addressed ways to test it are based on its various astrophysical implications. There may be other consequences of solid quark matter. (1) strong magnetic field play a key role in pulsar life, but there is still no consensus on its origin. It is worth noting that a ferromagnetism-like domain structure may appear in a solid strange star which could be a microscopic mechanism of pulsar magnetic fields. Actually Yang & Luo (1983) found that the quark-cluster phase with parallel spins is energetically favored due to the color magnetic interaction, and that the correspondent Curie temperature is $`10^2`$ MeV. The ferromagnetism issue is also noted recently by Tatsumi (2000), who suggested that the Hartree-Fock state with the inclusion of spin polarization shows a spontaneous magnetic instability at low densities through the same mechanism as in electron gas. (2) the calculation of the cooling behavior of strange stars should include the energy release as quark matter solidifies.

Acknowledgments: I thank Prof. Chongshou Gao for the discussion of the possibility of quark matter in solid state. The helpful suggestions from an anonymous referee are sincerely acknowledged. This work is supported by NSFC (10273001) and the Special Funds for Major State Basic Research Projects of China (G2000077602).