An introduction to strange stars

Abstract

The description of the densest neutron stars found in Nature depends on the understanding of the physical concepts present in General Relativity and in the theory of strong interactions - the Quantum Chromodynamics. In this work we review the essential concepts to describe strange stars, constituted by quarks up, down and strange, which is one of the alternatives for the composition of ultradense neutron stars. We will review the Bodmer-Witten-Terazawa hypothesis, which states that the strange matter is absolutely stable in relation to the ordinary nuclear matter, and discuss the basic properties that characterize strange stars. Our goal is to present the necessary concepts to understand this important theme of Astroparticles.