Related papers: Strangelets: Who is Looking, and How?
Witten's conjecture about strange quark matter (`Strange Matter') being the ground state of QCD at finite baryon number is presented and stars made of strange matter (`Strange Stars') are compared to neutron stars. The only observable way…
Strange stars ought to exist in the universe according to the strange quark matter hypothesis, which states that matter made of roughly equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks could be the true ground state of baryonic matter rather…
Theoretical approaches to strange and other types of quark matter accounted for at the SQM2003 Meeting are reviewed. They range from simple statistical models through perturbative QCD supported mico-dynamical simulations til lattice gauge…
Strangelets (hypothetical stable lumps of strange quarkmatter) of astrophysical origin may be ultimately detected in specific cosmic ray experiments. The initial mass distribution resulting from the possible astrophysical production sites…
Recently new data from the Cosmo-LEP project appeared, this time from DELPHI detector. They essentially confirm the findings reported some time ago by ALEPH, namely the appearence of bundles of muons with unexpectedly high multiplicities,…
We apply the chiral SU(3) quark mean field model to investigate strange quark matter. The stability of strange quark matter with different strangeness fraction is studied. The interaction between quarks and vector mesons destabilizes the…
The Strange Quark matter (SQM) hypothesis states that at extreme pressure and density conditions a new ground state of matter would arise, in which half of the \textit{down} quarks become strange quarks. If true, it would mean that at least…
Madsen and Larsen proposed (astro-ph/0211597) that strangelets - stable lumps of strange quark matter (SQM) - are candidates for the highest energy cosmic rays. They point out that the expected properties of strangelets make them easier to…
We investigate the existence and stability of highly-compact sub-stellar objects composed of strange quark matter (SQM), focusing on finite-size strangelets with baryon number $A \leq 100$. Motivated by the emergence of mass--radius…
After a brief introduction to the physics of bulk strange quark matter (SQM) this review focuses on the properties of low baryon number strangelets presently searched for in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion experiments at CERN and Brookhaven.…
We discuss the first-order phase transition of QCD at high temperature in the universe and the possible formation of quark-matter lumps through cooling in regions of increased pressure. We show tha similarity of results using confinement…
The properties of finite lumps of strange quark matter (strangelets) with emphasis on the two scenarios of producing strange matter in relativistic heavy ion collisions are summarized. As an outlook, the possibility of short-lived strange…
The state of cold bulk matter at around nuclear density depends on the fundamental strong interaction between quarks at low-energy scale, so-called non-perturbative quantum chromo-dynamics. Such kind of matter is conjectured to be condensed…
Creation of strange quark stars through strong interaction deconfinement is studied based on modern estimates of hyperon formation in neutron stars. The hyperon abundance is shown to be large enough so that if strange quark matter (SQM) is…
If the surface tension of quark matter is low enough, quark matter is not self bound. At sufficiently low pressure and temperature, it will take the form of a crystal of positively charged strangelets in a neutralizing background of…
Since the true ground state of the hadrons may be strange quark matter (SQM), pulsars may actually be strange stars rather than neutron stars. According to this SQM hypothesis, strange planets can also stably exist. The density of normal…
Quark matter which contains s-quarks in addition to u- and d- could be stable or metastable. In this case, lumps made of this strange matter, called strangelets, could occasionally hit the Earth. When travelling through the atmosphere they…
Searching for strangelets in cosmic rays may be the best way to test the possible stability of strange quark matter. I review calculations of the astrophysical strangelet flux in the GV--TV rigidity range, which will be investigated from…
Researchers have long been interested in exotic states of matter. In the early 1970s, Migdal proposed the existence of metastable or stable nuclei containing a pion condensate, and Bodmer posited the existence of collapsed nuclei with a…
Assuming that cosmic rays entering the Earth's atmosphere contain a small admixture of nuggets of strange quark matter in form of strangelets one can explain a number of apparently "strange" effects observed in different cosmic rays…