Scaling and universality in strange quark stars

Abstract

We derive scaling laws that connect certain macroscopic observables of strange quark stars with key microscopic properties of self-bound quark matter, such as the energy per baryon at zero pressure and the strength of repulsive interactions. We also identify universal relations linking global properties of strange quark stars - specifically, their moment of inertia, tidal deformability, and both gravitational and baryonic compactness. Remarkably, these relations hold for two substantially different microscopic models - the quark-mass density-dependent model with excluded-volume corrections and the vector MIT bag model - underscoring their robust, model-independent nature. We demonstrate that the universal relations for strange quark stars differ significantly from those previously established for neutron stars composed of hadronic matter, thus enabling discrimination between the two types of objects without requiring detailed knowledge of their equations of state. Moreover, observational constraints on the maximum mass of compact stars could place bounds on both the depth of quark-matter self-binding and the strength of quark repulsive interactions.