Free Energy of Anisotropic Strangeon Stars

Can pulsar-like compact objects release further huge free energy besides the kinematic energy of rotation?This is actually relevant to the equation of state of cold supra-nuclear matter,which is still under hot debate.Enormous energy is surely needed to understand various observations,such asγ-ray bursts,fast radio bursts and softγ-ray repeaters.In this paper,the elastic/gravitational free energy of solid strangeon stars is revisited for strangeon stars,with two anisotropic models to calculate in general relativity.It is found that huge free energy(>10^(46)erg)could be released via starquakes,given an extremely small anisotropy((p_(t)-p_(r))/p_(r)~10^(-4),with pt/pr the tangential/radial pressure),implying that pulsar-like stars could have great potential of free energy release without extremely strong magnetic fields in the solid strangeon star model.

The Precursor of GRB211211A:A Tide-induced Giant Quake?

The equilibrium configuration of a solid strange star in the final inspiral phase with another compact object is generally discussed,and the starquake-related issue is revisited,for a special purpose to understand the precursor emission of binary compact star merger events(e.g.,that of GRB211211A).As the binary system inspirals inward due to gravitational wave radiation,the ellipticity of the solid strangeon star increases due to the growing tidal field of its compact companion.Elastic energy is hence accumulated during the inspiral stage which might trigger a starquake before the merger when the energy exceeds a critical value.The energy released during such starquakes is calculated and compared to the precursor observation of GRB211211 A.The result shows that the energy might be insufficient for binary strangeon-star case unless the entire solid strangeon star shatters,and hence favors a black hole-strangeon star scenario for GRB211211A.The timescale of the precursor as well as the frequency of the observed quasi-periodic-oscillation have also been discussed in the starquake model.

Scientific objectives of the Hot Universe Baryon Surveyor(HUBS) mission

The Hot Universe Baryon Surveyor(HUBS) is a proposed space-based X-ray telescope for detecting X-ray emissions from the hot gas content in our universe. With its unprecedented spatially-resolved high-resolution spectroscopy and large field of view,the HUBS mission will be uniquely qualified to measure the physical and chemical properties of the hot gas in the interstellar medium, the circumgalactic medium, the intergalactic medium, and the intracluster medium. These measurements will be valuable for two key scientific goals of HUBS, namely to unravel the AGN and stellar feedback physics that governs the formation and evolution of galaxies, and to probe the baryon budget and multi-phase states from galactic to cosmological scales. In addition to these two goals, the HUBS mission will also help us solve some problems in the fields of galaxy clusters, AGNs, difuse X-ray backgrounds, supernova remnants, and compact objects. This paper discusses the perspective of advancing these fields using the HUBS telescope.

On the Energy Budget of Starquake-induced Repeating Fast Radio Bursts

With a growing sample of fast radio bursts(FRBs),we investigate the energy budget of different power sources within the framework of magnetar starquake triggering mechanism.During a starquake,the energy can be released in any form through strain,magnetic,rotational,and gravitational energies.The strain energy can be converted from three other kinds of energy during starquakes.The following findings are revealed:(1)The crust can store free magnetic energy of~10^(46)erg by existing toroidal fields,sustaining 10^(6)bursts with frequent starquakes occurring due to crustal instability.(2)The strain energy develops as a rigid object spins down,which can be released during a global starquake accompanied by a glitch.However,it takes a long time to accumulate enough strain energy via spindown.(3)The rotational energy of a magnetar with P■0.1 s can match the energy and luminosity budget of FRBs.(4)The budget of the total gravitational energy is high,but the mechanism and efficiency of converting this energy to radiation deserve further exploration.

Causal propagation of signals in strangeon matter

The state equation for strangeon matter is very stiff due to the non-relativistic nature of its particles and their repulsive interaction, such that pulsar masses as high as ～ 3M would be expected. However, an adiabatic sound speed, cs = √P/ρ, is usually superluminal in strangeon matter, and the dynamic response of a strangeon star （e.g., binary merger） is not tractable in numerical simulations. In this study, we examined signal propagation in strangeon matter and calculate the actual propagation speed, Csignal. We found that the causality condition, Csignal 〈 c, is satisfied and the signal speed is presented as a function of stellar radius.