A Thermal Featureless Spectrum: Evidence for Bare Strange Stars?

Abstract

In an effort to understand the absence of spectral lines in the thermal components of the X-ray compact sources observed recently by Chandra and XMM-Newton, we propose that these sources might simply be bare strange stars. We investigate the formation, cooling, and thermal photon radiation of bare strange stars. It is suggested that a thermal featureless spectrum could be a new probe for identifying strange stars.