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# Radial Distribution Function of Rod-like Polyelelctrolytes

## I Conformational statistics of a polyelectrolyte in the rod-like limit: Background and general considerations

Because of their fundamental importance in many key biological processes, electrostatically charged polymers, or polyelectrolytes (PE’s), have been the subject of intense research recently. These polymers often have stiff structures due to their Coulomb self-repulsion, and this structural property lies at the heart of their biological functionality. For example, the cytoskeletal network of actin filaments plays a crucial role in the recovery of eukaryotic cell shape in the face of the stresses imposed by cell movement, growth, and division Alberts ; eichinger ; janmey . Furthermore, the storage properties and accessibility of DNA is known to be both constrained and controlled by its stiffness sinden ; zandi . Clearly, a complete study of the elastic properties of these charged biopolymers, which is now facilitated by single filament imaging and manipulation techniques, is crucial to an understanding of their role in nature Chatenay .

In the case of neutral polymers, the wormlike chain (WLC) model of Kratky and Porod wlc  provides a powerful and convenient characterization of flexibility through the persistence length, which quantifies the correlations of unit tangent vectors parallel to the chain. Odijk, Skolnick, and Fixman (OSF), have applied this notion to PE’s through the introduction of an “electrostatic” persistence length $`\mathrm{}_e`$ odijk ; fixman . They derived the relationship

$`\mathrm{}_e`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{OSF}}`$ (1)
$``$ $`\beta /4\kappa ^2,`$
where $`\kappa ^1`$ is the Debye screening length (a measure of the ionic strength of the solvent), and $`\beta =\mathrm{}_\mathrm{B}/b^2`$ is the strength of the electrostatic interaction. In the latter quantity $`\mathrm{}_\mathrm{B}=e^2/ϵk_BT`$ is the Bjerrum length with $`ϵ`$ the dielectric constant of the ion-free solvent, and $`b`$ the average separation between neighboring charges along the PE.

The notion of electrostatic persistence length, however, is believed to have shortcomings, as it replaces the many length scales in a PE by a single effective persistence length. The first note of caution is due to Odijk himself, who pointed out that if one tries to make use of the concept of an effective WLC approximation for a PE of finite length $`L`$, the corresponding persistence length should be $`L`$-dependent odijk . Barrat and Joanny later noted that, in fact, each deformation mode of a PE with a given wavelength has a different effective persistence length joanny . Moreover, the wavevector dependence of the rigidity causes deviations from the linear dependency $`\mathrm{}_e\beta `$ joanny ; ha .

These observations—which point to the complications that may arise if one insists on an effective WLC scheme for the characterization of PE’s—follow from the study of the averages $`R`$ and $`R^2`$, where $`𝐑=𝐫(L)𝐫(0)`$ is the end-to-end distance of the PE. It is not at all clear that a description based on the matching of first or second moments of the end-to-end length distribution is equivalent to a comprehensive study of conformational properties of a PE. An appealing alternative is a study of the full radial distribution function of the end-to-end distance of PE’s, which provides an excellent gauge of the conformation statistics of polymers in general de genne  and stiff chains in particular frey . This quantity, which can be measured experimentally through fluorescence microscopy, allows one to determine whether or not the WLC model accurately reflects the properties of the polymer segments. If the model has been shown to apply, then the fit of the distribution to the data directly yields the persistence length and, hence, the elastic modulus of the polymer.

In this article, we calculate the end-to-end distribution function of a charged inextensible chain in its rod-like limit. This distribution is then utilized to investigate the validity of a WLC with an adjusted persistence length as a model for a PE. We find that when the Coulomb interaction is only a perturbation to the mechanical stiffness of the chain, or when Debye screening is sufficiently strong, the full radial distribution of the PE can be collapsed onto that of a WLC. However, in the case of sizable Coulomb interactions and when the screening length is insufficiently short, we find that the distribution cannot be collapsed onto that of any WLC. To quantify the deviations from WLC behavior, we define an effective $`\mathrm{}_p`$ as the persistence length of the WLC that is most likely to have the same end-to-end distance as the PE chain. We discover strong evidence of a universal scaling function relating the electrostatic persistence length, $`\mathrm{}_e`$, to the intrinsic persistence length, $`\mathrm{}_{p0}`$, the Debye screening length, $`\kappa `$ and the strength of electrostatic interaction, $`\beta `$.

Because of the inextensibility of the PE’s under consideration frey , we adopt the Kratky and Porod WLC model to describe the bending energy of the chain. In this model, a polymer is represented by a space curve $`𝐫(s)`$ as a function of the arc length parameter $`s`$. The total energy of the chain, which is the sum of the intrinsic elasticity and the electrostatic energy can be written as

$$\frac{}{k_BT}=\frac{\mathrm{}_{p0}}{2}_0^L𝑑s\left(\frac{d𝐭}{ds}\right)^2+\frac{\beta }{2}_0^L𝑑s𝑑s^{}\frac{e^{\kappa |𝐫(s)𝐫(s^{})|}}{|𝐫(s)𝐫(s^{})|},$$
(2)
where $`𝐭(s)`$ is the unit tangent vector, and $`\mathrm{}_{p0}`$ is the intrinsic persistence length of the PE. We do not take into account the fluctuations in the charges localized to the chain and in the counterion system that can give rise to attractive interactions leading to chain collapse golestan . Because the chain is in its rod-like limit, excluded volume does not play a role. The double integral on the right hand side of Eq. (2) is cut off when $`|ss^{}|<b`$, where $`b`$ is the spacing between charges on the PE. The quantity $`b`$ also represents the intrinsic “coarse-graining” of the effective Hamiltonian, in that structure on a smaller length scale is not encompassed by the model embodied in Eq. (2). In addition, the value of $`b`$ represents a lower limit on the magnitude of the intrinsic persistence length $`\mathrm{}_{p0}`$, in that there is no physical meaning to a persistence length that is exceeded by the smallest length scale in the system.

The end-to-end distribution function is defined as follows:

$$G(𝐫)=\delta (𝐫𝐑),$$
(3)
where $`𝐑=𝐫(L)𝐫(0)`$. The average in (3) is over an ensemble of PE chains. The function $`G(𝐫)`$ is, then, the probability that a given chain in the ensemble will have an end-to-end distance equal to $`𝐫`$. We make use of the procedure Wilhelm and Frey have implemented to calculate the end-to-end distribution function for inextensible neutral polymers frey . We focus on Inextensible chains with $`\mathrm{}_{p0}L`$ or $`\mathrm{}_{p0}L`$. In both cases, our study is limited to regions where the combination of intrinsic stiffness and repulsive strength of the Coulomb interaction keeps the chain in its rod-like limit note1 . That is, the combination of intrinsic persistence length and Coulomb repulsion acts to keep the chain nearly *straight* over its entire length, so that its end-to-end distance does not greatly deviate from its total arc length. We parameterize the contour in terms of the tangent field: $`𝐭(s)=(a_x(s),a_y(s),1)/\sqrt{1+a_x^2(s)+a_y^2(s)}`$, and then retain only terms up to second order in the $`a`$’s in the measure factor, $`H`$, and in the argument of the delta-function in Eq. (3), which is rewritten in terms of its Fourier representation. Expanding $`a_x(s)`$ and $`a_y(s)`$ in a cosine series, as mandated by the open-end boundary conditions, and making use of the relationship

$$𝐫(s)𝐫(s^{})=_s^s^{}𝑑x𝐭(x),$$
(4)
we obtain

$$G(r)=N_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}\frac{d\omega }{2\pi }e^{i\omega (1r/L)}\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left(\frac{1}{\lambda _n+i\omega }\right),$$
(5)
in which $`N`$ is a normalization constant. The $`\lambda _n`$’s are eigenvalues of the matrix

$$𝐓=(n\pi )^2(\mathrm{}_{p0}/L)𝐈+\beta L𝐄,$$
(6)
where $`𝐈`$ is the unity matrix and $`𝐄`$ is the electrostatic energy matrix in the cosine basis set. Contour integration then yields

$$G(r)=N\underset{n}{}f(n)e^{\lambda _n(1r/L)},$$
(7)
where

$$f(n)=\underset{in}{}1/(\lambda _i\lambda _n).$$
(8)
The large eigenvalues of the matrix $`𝐓`$ are dominated by the diagonal terms $`(n\pi )^2(\mathrm{}_{p0}/L)`$. In other words, the effect of the electrostatic interaction is swamped by semiflexible energetics at short length scales. In the case of a neutral polymer with an intrinsic persistence length that is comparable with the total length of the polymer, the above series converges very rapidly, as noted in Ref. frey . When the chain is charged, and in particular, when the stiffness is due predominantly to electrostatic effects, more terms in the series must be preserved in order to obtain a stable answer for $`G(r)`$. In the calculations described here, we truncate the matrix $`𝐓`$ at a size much greater than the number of terms needed to obtain an accurate answer for the series of Eq. (7). This is because a larger dimension of the truncated matrix leads to more accurate values for the lower eigenvalues (which participate in the sum), and a more accurate $`f(n)`$. In practice, we increased the dimension of the matrices until the effect (on the end-to-end distribution function) of a further increase in the size of $`𝐓`$ by a factor of two was less than a part in a thousand. A restriction on the size of the matrix arises from the requirement that the coarse graining length $`b`$ not exceed the smallest wavelengths appearing in the cosine basis set. If the length of the PE is $`L`$, this means that the size, $`N`$, of the basis set satisfies $`NL/b`$. At no point in our calculations was this inequality violated.

We set $`b/L=10^3`$. In this case, the distribution function of PE’s depends on three independent dimensionless parameters $`\mathrm{}_{p0}/L`$, $`\beta L`$, and $`\kappa L`$. Figure 1 illustrates the effect of the screened electrostatic interaction on the distribution function of a chain with $`\mathrm{}_{p0}/L=0.5`$ at different salt concentrations and, hence, different values of $`\kappa `$. As illustrated in the figure, the end-to-end distance of the chain on average becomes shorter upon a decrease of the screening length (for fixed $`\beta L`$). The quantity $`\beta L`$, which depends on the solvent dielectric constant and the charge density on the PE chain, is equal to 100 for all the three curves in the figure.

We now seek to determine under what conditions the end-to-end distribution function of a rod-like PE is satisfactorily reproduced by that of a WLC with an adjusted persistence length. We also scrutinize the adjusted persistence length of a WLC whose end-to-end distribution is the closest fit to that of a rod-like PE to determine whether or not this persistence length is in accord with existing predictions for the dependence of the electrostatic persistence length on properties of the PE chain. In the cases we consider here the combination of intrinsic stiffness—as parameterized by $`l_{p0}/L`$—and of charging—quantified by $`\beta L`$—provides enough stiffening of the PE to guarantee rod-like behavior in all length scales.

## II Regimes in which the PE behaves like a WLC

We find that there exist regimes in which the conformational statistics of a PE chain in the rod-like limit are identical to those of a WLC with an adjusted persistence length. For such cases, PE and WLC distributions are indistinguishable to the naked eye. In these regimes, the persistence length is as predicted by Eq. (1), or, when $`\kappa L`$ is not significantly larger than unity, by Eq. (9). We are able to divide this regime into two different categories.

### II.1  Intrinsically stiff chains ($`\mathrm{}_{p0}L`$)

Whenever the electrostatic interaction plays a perturbative role in the chain energetics, it is possible to obtain a satisfactory collapse of the PE distribution onto that of a WLC. One noteworthy feature of this regime is that the electrostatic persistence length always satisfies $`\mathrm{}_e<\mathrm{}_{p0}`$.

These regions are associated by weak charging of chain for small values of $`\kappa L`$ ( $`\kappa L1`$ ). As we increase screening, $`\kappa L`$, the collapse of the two distributions can be achieved for higher charge density. Figure 2 illustrates two examples of this regime. In plot (a), the Debye screening length is short, while $`\beta L`$, the strength of coupling, is high. In plot (b), the Debye screening length is relatively long, but the electrostatic coupling is very weak. In both cases, we find that the distribution function of the PE’s collapse onto WLC’s with adjusted persistence lengths that follows Odijk and OSF predictions (Eqs. (9) and (1)) .

Our calculations verify that under physiological conditions ($`\kappa =1\mathrm{nm}^1`$), the distribution functions for rod-like DNA segments ($`L\stackrel{<}{}100\mathrm{nm}`$) as well as those of stiffer actin filaments also collapse onto the end-to-end distribution for neutral chains with an effective persistence length given by Eq. (1).

Whenever there is a virtually perfect collapse of the distribution function of a PE onto that of a neutral chain, the persistence length of the neutral chain follows Odijk’s prediction, in that, $`\mathrm{}_p=\mathrm{}_e+\mathrm{}_{p0}`$, where $`\mathrm{}_p`$ is the effective persistence length of the charged chain, and $`\mathrm{}_e=\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Odijk}}`$ odijk .

$`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Odijk}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\beta L^2}{12}}[e^{\kappa L}({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\kappa L}}+{\displaystyle \frac{5}{(\kappa L)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{8}{(\kappa L)^3}})`$ (9)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{(\kappa L)^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{8}{(\kappa L)^3}}].`$
which reduces to $`\mathrm{}_{OSF}\beta /4\kappa ^2`$ for large $`\kappa L`$ odijk ; fixman . It is important to note that the expression for $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Odijk}}`$ odijk  was derived under the assumption that the contour length of the chain, $`L`$, is of the order of its intrinsic persistence length, $`\mathrm{}_{p0}`$ and that the electrostatic interaction has the limited effect of only “perturbing” the WLC shape of the chain odijk . Our results confirm the validity of OSF and Odijk formulas in the regime in which they are expected to be correct.

### II.2 Intrinsically flexible chains ($`\mathrm{}_{p0}L`$)

We are also able to identify regimes in which the radial distribution function of a PE that is long compared to its intrinsic persistence length ($`\mathrm{}_{p0}/L1`$) collapses almost perfectly onto that of an uncharged WLC. Substantial charging is required to enforce the rod-like limit for such chains. It is important to note that despite the substantial charging of the chain, the ratio of the length of the PE to the screening length, $`\kappa L`$, must be sufficiently large. This requirement is essential in order to minimize the strong influence of the end effects on conformational statistics of charged chains.

The important characteristic of this regime is that $`\mathrm{}_{p0}\mathrm{}_e`$ and thus electrostatic energy no longer plays a perturbative role. Nevertheless, if $`\kappa L`$ is sufficiently large we observe collapse of the two distributions. Furthermore, we also find that Odijk’s formula works to near perfection in those cases. For example, in the extreme instance of a very short intrinsic persistence length, $`\mathrm{}_{p0}/L=0.01`$, a high degree of charging $`\beta L=36000`$, and a screening length that is short compared to the chain length, $`\kappa L=100`$, we obtain an end-to-end distribution that is nearly identical with that of a WLC with an appropriate $`\mathrm{}_e`$. In this case, $`\mathrm{}_e/L=0.894`$ which is in near-perfect agreement with $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Odijk}}`$. The accuracy of Odijk’s formula when $`\mathrm{}_e\mathrm{}_{p0}`$ is not at all obvious, as OSF was derived in the regime where electrostatic interaction plays a perturbative role.

We emphasize that the reason for the high quality of the match with OSF in this regime is different from the reason for the corresponding result obtained by Khokhlov and Khachaturian khokhlov  for weakly charged flexible chains. In our case, the chain is stiff in all length scales; the possibility of renormalizing the length and/or charge is thus excluded in our formulation.

## III Regimes in which the conformational statistics of a PE differ from those of a WLC

No matter how short the range of electrostatic interactions is as the result of Debye screening, at sufficiently strong charging, the PE end-to-end distribution differs significantly from that of a WLC. The emergence of a difference between the two distribution is accompanied by a divergence between the effective persistence length characterizing the conformational statistics and the predictions of either Eq. (1) or (9). Figure 3, displays the PE end-to-end distribution (solid curves) along with the modified WLC distribution (dashed curves) in a case in which it is possible to obtain a nearly perfect fit (plot b) and in a case in which the best fit not nearly as good (plot a). In both cases fit was obtained by matching the location of the maxima of the two distributions, and the electrostatic persistence length attributed to the PE distribution is that of the WLC associated with the dashed curve. The ratio of electrostatic persistence length extracted from the distribution function to Odijk’s persistence length is, $`\mathrm{}_e/\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Odijk}}=0.99`$ in the case of plot b. For the inset graph, plot a, in which the two distributions differ noticeably, this ratio is $`\mathrm{}_e/\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Odijk}}=0.89`$.

It is important to note that a rescaling of the backbone length of the PE is not an acceptable stratagem for improving the agreement between the PE radial distribution and that of a WLC. This is because the backbone length is essentially fixed by the rod-like chain condition. The shortening and thickening that is associated with intermediate blob-like structures blobs  will not occur. In fact, we have observed that a reduction in the effective value of $`L`$ actually degrades the quality of the correspondence between the conformational statistics of a PE and those of the corresponding WLC.

Our general observation is that the ratio of $`\mathrm{}_e`$ extracted from the effective WLC distribution to Odijk’s persistence length correlates with the quality of the fit of an effective WLC end-to-end distribution to that of a PE. When this ratio is equal to one, the PE is described to a high degree of accuracy in terms of a WLC. As this ratio decreases, the deviation becomes more pronounced. Figure 4 displays a diagram which delineates the quality of the fit. The line that is used in the Figure to separate the two regimes corresponds to $`\mathrm{}_e/\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Odijk}}=0.58`$. As indicated in this Figure, for fixed $`\kappa L`$, when $`\beta L`$ is below a certain value the PE behaves like a WLC, while for larger $`\beta L`$ there is a substantial difference between the electrostatic persistence length of a rod-like PE and Odijk’s prediction. As illustrated in Fig. 5, the deviation of $`\mathrm{}_e/L`$ from $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Odijk}}/L`$, with increasing $`\beta L`$ is more pronounced at lower values of $`\kappa L`$. The Figure also shows that the electrostatic persistence length of a rod-like PE, $`\mathrm{}_e/L`$, depends on $`\mathrm{}_{p0}/L`$. This dependence is not present in Odijk’s formula.

## IV Universal Behavior

Our general observation of the curves of $`\mathrm{}_e/L`$ versus $`\beta L`$ is that they asymptote to a power law of the form $`\mathrm{}_e(\beta L)^{1x}`$ where the exponent $`x(\kappa L)`$ lies between zero and one. In search of a possible universal behavior, which might relate $`\mathrm{}_{p0}/L`$, $`\beta L`$ and $`\kappa L`$ to $`\mathrm{}_e/L`$, we have rescaled our graphs for different values of the parameters. The details of rescaling will be presented in a forthcoming publication rudnick . The dependence on charging, $`\beta L`$, of the ratio of the persistence length of a WLC and the prediction for that quantity embodied in Eq. (9) can be systematized in terms of a universal formulaitamar . This formula points to the existence of a scaling mechanism. At this point, we are not able to provide an explanation for this mechanism or indicate a possible underlying basis for it. Figure 6 contains plots of the ratio of the electrostatic persistence length of PE distributions to the predictions of Odijk in Eq. (9). As shown in the figure, all rescaled plots collapse on to a single curve corresponding to the following crossover formula for $`\mathrm{}_e`$

$$\mathrm{}_e=\frac{\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Odijk}}}{1+(\beta /\beta _0)^x}$$
(10)
This formula provides a remarkable fit to our data when the exponent $`x0.4`$, as exemplified in Fig. 6. The quantity $`\beta _0`$ is an increasing function of $`\mathrm{}_{p0}`$ and $`\kappa `$. Our most striking result is that for all investigated values of $`\kappa L`$ and/or $`\mathrm{}_{p0}/L`$, the exponent $`x`$ remains fixed at $`0.4`$, independent of all the other parameters. This function encompasses all the regimes described above. We are able to obtain the value of $`\beta _0`$ from our data. The crossover discussed in the previous section occurs when $`\beta 0.446\beta _0`$ which corresponds to $`\mathrm{}_e0.58\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Odijk}}`$ in Eq. (10). The curve in Fig. 4 indicates the values of $`\beta _0L`$ at different $`\kappa L`$’s for $`\mathrm{}_{p0}/L=0.5`$. Similar curves have been generated for other, smaller, values of $`\mathrm{}_{p0}/L`$. The behavior of these other curves is the same as the one plotted in Fig. 4.

## V Conclusions

We conclude with a few brief comments. To fit the PE and WLC distributions we have matched the maxima of the two. A fit can also be effected by matching moments, or by a least-squares procedure. Alternate fitting approaches have been explored by us, but the results obtained were entirely consistent with the conclusions set forth above. The reason for the present choice was the strong correlation between Odijk’s prediction and the fit of the distributions. If we match the maxima of the two distributions, the electrostatic persistence length departs from Odijk’s predictions when the distributions cease to closely resemble each other, and thus the ratio of $`\mathrm{}_e/\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Odijk}}`$ is a good measure of the similarity of the two distributions. However, if we used a matching of the first or second moment to calculate the effective persistence length, the two distributions are clearly distinguishable from each other well within the regime in which Odijk’s formula for the persistence length remains accurate.

Our results indicate that the difference between the radial distribution of the PE and the WLC can be attributed, at least in part, to the influence of end effects. In fact, we believe that the behavior of the persistence length is substantially controlled by end effects. One way of understanding this is in terms of Odijk’s derivation of the expression (9) for the electrostatic persistence length odijk . This derivation is based on a calculation of the energy of a bent segment of a charged rod. A key assumption in this derivation is that the segment takes the form of an arc of a circle. End effects are readily associated with the difference between the shape of a real bent rod and the circular arc assumed in Odijk’s derivation. An exploration of these effects in this context will be described in forthcoming work shape .

As noted above, the effect of counterion condensation has been ignored throughout the above work. It has been shown that counterion condensation modifies the bending rigidity of a semiflexible chain collapse ; golestan  and may result in the collapse of the PE chain golestan . We have performed a calculation of the distribution function taking into account the attractive interaction due to counterion fluctuations and observed the signature of collapse. We are currently investigating these effectsrudnick .

In summary, we have been able to verify that the modified WLC as a model of a rod-like PE works in the regime in which electrostatic effects play a perturbative role, and that the Odijk and OSF forms for the electrostatic persistence length are quantitatively accurate in this regime. We have also found that the above model and formulas are accurate in non-perturbative regimes if Debye screening is sufficiently strong. In the regimes in which the above model fails, we have discovered evidence for a scaling form, exhibited in Eq. (10), for the correction to the Odijk result for the persistence length. As yet, no model provides a theoretical basis for the scaling exhibited by this formula.

The authors would like to acknowledge helpful discussions with W.M. Gelbart, M. Kardar, R.R. Netz, I. Borukhov, H. Diamant, K. -K. Loh, V. Oganesyan, and G. Zocchi. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CHE99-88651.


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# Thermal emission from bare quark matter surfaces of hot strange stars

## 1 Introduction

Witten (W84 (1984)) pointed out that strange quark matter (SQM) composed of roughly equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks may be the absolute ground state of the strong interaction, i.e., absolutely stable with respect to 56Fe. Detailed studies showed that, with the uncertainties inherent in a nuclear-physics calculation, the existence of stable SQM is reasonable (e.g., Farhi & Jaffe FJ84 (1984); Chmaj & Slomiński CS89 (1989); Terazawa T90 (1990); Kettner et al. KWWG95 (1995); Weber W99 (1999)). If Witten’s idea is true, at least some of the compact objects known to astronomers as pulsars, powerful, accreting X-ray sources, X-ray and $`\gamma `$-ray bursters, etc. might be strange stars, not neutron stars as usually assumed (Alcock, Farhi, & Olinto AFO86 (1986); Glendenning G90 (1990), G96 (1996); Caldwell & Friedman CF91 (1991); Madsen & Olesen MO91 (1991); Cheng & Dai CD96 (1996); CD98 (1998); Xu, Qiao, & Zhang XQZ99 (1999)). SQM with the density of $`5\times 10^{14}`$ g cm-3 can exist, by hypothesis, up to the surface of strange stars. This differs qualitatively from the case of a neutron star surface and opens observational possibilities to distinguish strange stars from neutron stars, if indeed the formers exist. In this Letter, we consider thermal emission of photons and $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs from the bare SQM surfaces of hot strange stars.

## 2 Bare quark surfaces of strange stars and thermal emission

At the bare SQM surface of a strange star the density changes abruptly from $`5\times 10^{14}`$ g cm-3 to zero. The thickness of the SQM surface is about $`1\mathrm{fm}=10^{13}`$ cm, which is a typical strong interaction length scale. The SQM surface is a very poor radiator of thermal photons at energies less than about 20 MeV (Alcock et al. AFO86 (1986)). This is because the plasma frequency that is related to the particle density of quarks is very high (see below).

### 2.1 Thermal Equilibrium Radiation

Hot SQM is filled with electromagnetic waves in thermodynamic equilibrium with quarks. The dispersion relation of these waves may be written in the following simple form (e.g., Adams, Ruderman, & Woo ARW63 (1963); Alcock et al. AFO86 (1986))

$$\omega ^2=\omega _\mathrm{p}^2+k^2c^2,$$
(1)
where $`\omega `$ is the frequency of electromagnetic waves, $`k`$ is their wavenumber,

$$\omega _\mathrm{p}=\left(\frac{8\pi }{3}\frac{e^2c^2n_\mathrm{b}}{\mu }\right)^{1/2}$$
(2)
is the plasma frequency, $`n_\mathrm{b}`$ is the baryon number density of SQM, and $`\mu \mathrm{}c(\pi ^2n_\mathrm{b})^{1/3}`$ is the chemical potential of quarks. Equation (1) is the familiar dispersion relation for a plasma, and its conventional interpretation may be applied to SQM. Propagating modes exist only for $`\omega >\omega _\mathrm{p}`$. Taking this into account, equation (2) yields the lower limit on the energy of electromagnetic quanta that are in thermodynamic equilibrium with quarks, $`\epsilon _\gamma =\mathrm{}\omega >\mathrm{}\omega _\mathrm{p}18.5(n_\mathrm{b}/n_0)^{1/3}`$ MeV, where $`n_0=0.17`$ fm-3 is normal nuclear matter density. At the SQM surface where the pressure is zero, we expect $`n_\mathrm{b}(1.52)n_0`$ and $`\mathrm{}\omega _\mathrm{p}2025`$ MeV (e.g., Farhi & Jaffe FJ84 (1984); Alcock et al. AFO86 (1986); Chmaj, Haensel, & Slomiński CHS91 (1991)). Therefore, the spectrum of thermal equilibrium photons radiated from the bare SQM surfaces of strange stars is expected to be very hard.

The energy flux emitted from the unit surface of SQM in thermal equilibrium photons is (Bekefi B66 (1966); Chmaj et al. CHS91 (1991))

$$F_{\mathrm{eq}}=\frac{\mathrm{}}{c^2}_{\omega _\mathrm{p}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑\omega \frac{\omega (\omega ^2\omega _\mathrm{p}^2)g(\omega )}{\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{}\omega /k__\mathrm{B}T__\mathrm{S})1},$$
(3)
where

$$g(\omega )=\frac{1}{2\pi ^2}_0^{\pi /2}𝑑\vartheta \mathrm{sin}\vartheta \mathrm{cos}\vartheta D(\omega ,\vartheta ),$$
(4)
$`k__\mathrm{B}`$ is the Boltzmann constant, $`D(\omega ,\vartheta )`$ is the coefficient of radiation transmission from SQM to vacuum, $`D=1(R_{}+R_{})/2`$, and

$$R_{}=\frac{\mathrm{sin}^2(\vartheta \vartheta _0)}{\mathrm{sin}^2(\vartheta +\vartheta _0)},R_{}=\frac{\mathrm{tan}^2(\vartheta \vartheta _0)}{\mathrm{tan}^2(\vartheta +\vartheta _0)}$$
(5)
$$\vartheta _0=\mathrm{arcsin}[\mathrm{sin}\vartheta \sqrt{1(\omega _\mathrm{p}/\omega )^2}]$$
(6)
(see, e.g., Landau, Lifshitz, & Pitaevskii LLP84 (1984)). Figure 1 shows the ratio of the equilibrium photon emissivity of the bare surface of hot SQM to the black body surface emissivity, $`\xi _{\mathrm{eq}}=F_{\mathrm{eq}}/F_{_{\mathrm{BB}}}`$, where $`F_{_{\mathrm{BB}}}=\sigma T__\mathrm{S}^4`$, and $`\sigma `$ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant. From Figure 1 we can see that at $`T{}_{\mathrm{S}}{}^{}\mathrm{}\omega _\mathrm{p}/k__\mathrm{B}10^{11}`$ K the equilibrium photon radiation from the bare surface of a strange star is very small, compared to the black body one.

### 2.2 Emission of $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs

It was pointed out (Usov U98 (1998)) that the bare surface of a hot strange star may be a powerful source of $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs which are created in an extremely strong electric field at the quark surface and flow away from the star. The electric field is generated because there are electrons with the density $`n_\mathrm{e}(10^310^4)n_\mathrm{b}`$ in SQM to neutralize the electric charge of the quarks (e.g., Alcock et al. AFO86 (1986)). The electrons, being bound to SQM by the electromagnetic interaction alone, are able to move freely across the SQM surface, but clearly cannot move to infinity because of the bulk electrostatic attraction to the quarks. The electron distribution extends up to $`10^3`$ fm above the quark surface, and a strong electric field is generated in the surface layer to prevent the electrons from escaping to infinity, counterbalancing the degeneracy and thermal pressure. The typical magnitude of the electric field at the SQM surface is $`5\times 10^{17}`$ V cm-1 (Alcock et al. AFO86 (1986)). This field is a few ten times higher than the critical field $`E_{\mathrm{cr}}=m_e^2c^3/e\mathrm{}1.3\times 10^{16}\mathrm{V}\mathrm{cm}^1`$ at which vacuum is unstable to creation of $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs (Schwinger S51 (1951); Reinhardt R94 (1994)). In such a strong electric field, $`EE_{\mathrm{cr}}`$, in vacuum, the pair creation rate is extremely high, $`W_\pm 1.7\times 10^{50}(E/E_{\mathrm{cr}})^2\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1`$. At $`E5\times 10^{17}`$ V cm-1, we have $`W_\pm 2.5\times 10^{53}`$ cm-3 s-1. The high-electric-field region is, however, not a vacuum. The electrons present fill up states into which electrons that would be created have to go. This reduces the pair-creation rate from the vacuum value. It can, in fact, be shown that at zero temperature the process of pair creation is suppressed altogether because there is no free levels for electrons to be created.

At finite temperatures, $`T__\mathrm{S}>0`$, in thermodynamical equilibrium electronic states are only partly filled, and pair creation by the Coulomb barrier becomes possible. Since the rate of pair production when electrons are created into the empty states is extremely high, the empty states below the pair creation threshold, $`\epsilon \epsilon __\mathrm{F}2m_\mathrm{e}c^2`$, are occupied by created electrons almost instantly, where $`\epsilon __\mathrm{F}=\mathrm{}c(\pi ^2n_\mathrm{e})^{1/3}`$ is the Fermi energy of electrons, and $`m_\mathrm{e}`$ is the electron mass (Usov U98 (1998)). Then, the rate of pair creation by the Coulomb barrier is determined by the process of thermalization of electrons, which favors the empty-state production below the pair creation threshold. The thermal energy of SQM is the source of energy for the process of pair creation.

The flux of $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs from the unit surface of SQM is (Usov U98 (1998))

$$\dot{n}_\pm \mathrm{\Delta }r__E\mathrm{\Delta }n_et_{\mathrm{th}}^1,$$
(7)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }r__E`$ is the thickness of the electron surface layer with a strong electric field,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }n_e\frac{3k__\mathrm{B}T__\mathrm{S}}{\epsilon __\mathrm{F}}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{2m_ec^2}{k__\mathrm{B}T__\mathrm{S}}\right)n_e.$$
(8)
is the density of electronic empty states with energies below the pair creation threshold at thermodynamical equilibrium, and $`t_{\mathrm{th}}`$ is the characteristic time of thermalization of electrons.

In the surface electron layer, the spectrum of electrons is thermalized due to electron-electron collisions, and the thermalization time is about $`\nu _{ee}^1`$, where (e.g., Potekhin et al. PBHY99 (1999))

$$\nu _{ee}\frac{3}{2\pi }\left(\frac{\alpha }{\pi }\right)^{1/2}\frac{(k__\mathrm{B}T__\mathrm{S})^2}{\mathrm{}\epsilon __\mathrm{F}}J(\zeta )$$
(9)
is the frequency of electron-electron collisions for degenerate electrons with $`\epsilon __\mathrm{F}m_\mathrm{e}c^2`$, $`\alpha =e^2/\mathrm{}c=1/137`$ is the fine structure constant, (c.f. Usov U98 (1998))

$$J(\zeta )=\frac{1}{3}\frac{\zeta ^3\mathrm{ln}(1+2\zeta ^1)}{(1+0.074\zeta )^3}+\frac{\pi ^5}{6}\frac{\zeta ^4}{(13.9+\zeta )^4},$$
(10)
$$\zeta =2\sqrt{\frac{\alpha }{\pi }}\frac{\epsilon __\mathrm{F}}{k__\mathrm{B}T__\mathrm{S}}0.1\frac{\epsilon __\mathrm{F}}{k__\mathrm{B}T__\mathrm{S}}.$$
(11)
For typical parameters, $`\mathrm{\Delta }r__E500`$ fm and $`\epsilon __\mathrm{F}18`$ MeV, equations (7) - (9) yield

$$\dot{n}_\pm 10^{39}\left(\frac{T__\mathrm{S}}{10^9\mathrm{K}}\right)^3\mathrm{exp}\left[11.9\left(\frac{T__\mathrm{S}}{10^9\mathrm{K}}\right)^1\right]J(\zeta )\mathrm{s}^1$$
(12)
within a factor of 2 or so.

The energy flux from the unit surface of SQM in $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs created by the Coulomb barrier is $`F_\pm \epsilon _\pm \dot{n}_\pm `$, where $`\epsilon _\pm m_\mathrm{e}c^2+k__\mathrm{B}T__\mathrm{S}`$ is the mean energy of created particles and $`n_\pm `$ is given by equation (12). Figure 1 shows the ratio of the SQM surface emissivity in $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs to the black body surface emissivity, $`\xi _\pm =F_\pm /F_{_{\mathrm{BB}}}`$, versus the surface temperature $`T__\mathrm{S}`$. Creation of $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs by the Coulomb barrier is the main mechanism of thermal emission from the surface of SQM at $`8\times 10^8T__\mathrm{S}5\times 10^{10}`$ K, while the equilibrium radiation dominates at extremely high temperatures, $`T__\mathrm{S}>5\times 10^{10}`$ K.

The SQM surface emissivity in photons at energies $`\epsilon _\gamma <\mathrm{}\omega _\mathrm{p}`$ is strongly suppressed (see above). However, low energy photons may leave SQM if they are produced by a non-equilibrium process in the surface layer with the thickness of $`c/\omega _\mathrm{p}10^{12}`$ cm. The emissivity of SQM in non-equilibrium quark-quark bremsstrahlung radiation at low energies, $`\epsilon _\gamma <\mathrm{}\omega _\mathrm{p}`$, has been estimated by Chmaj et al. (CHS91 (1991)), $`\xi _{\mathrm{neq}}=F_{\mathrm{neq}}/F_{_{\mathrm{BB}}}10^4`$. Chmaj et al. (CHS91 (1991)) made a few assumptions that led to over-estimate of $`\xi _{\mathrm{neq}}`$, and $`\xi _{\mathrm{neq}}10^4`$ is, in fact, an upper limit. Hence, our estimate of the SQM surface emissivity, $`\xi =\xi _{\mathrm{eq}}+\xi _\pm `$, is valid for $`T__\mathrm{S}8\times 10^8`$ K when $`\xi _\pm `$ is more than $`10^4`$ (see Fig. 1). For $`T__\mathrm{S}<8\times 10^8`$ K the value of $`\xi `$ is uncertain, $`\xi _\pm \xi 10^4`$, especially at low energies of photons.

### 2.3 Thermal radiation from a hot strange star

At $`T__\mathrm{S}8\times 10^8`$ K the total luminosity of a bare strange star in both photons and $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs is

$$L=L_{\mathrm{eq}}+L_\pm =4\pi R^2(F_{\mathrm{eq}}+F_\pm ),$$
(13)
where $`R10^6`$ cm is the radius of the strange star. Figure 2 shows the value of $`L`$ as a function of the surface temperature $`T__\mathrm{S}`$. At $`T__\mathrm{S}<8\times 10^8`$ K the total luminosity is somewhere between $`4\pi R^2F_\pm `$ and $`10^3R^2F_{_{\mathrm{BB}}}`$.

At $`T__\mathrm{S}8\times 10^8`$ K the luminosity in $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs created by the Coulomb barrier at the SQM surface is very high, $`L_\pm 10^{40}`$ ergs s-1 (see Fig. 2), that is at least four orders of magnitude higher than

$$L_\pm ^{\mathrm{max}}4\pi m_\mathrm{e}c^3R/\sigma __\mathrm{T}10^{36}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1,$$
(14)
where $`\sigma __\mathrm{T}`$ is the Thomson cross-section. In this case, the time-scale $`t_{\mathrm{ann}}(n_\pm \sigma __\mathrm{T}c)^1`$ for annihilation of $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs is much shorter than the time-scale $`t_{\mathrm{esc}}R/c`$ for their escape, $`t_{\mathrm{ann}}/t_{\mathrm{esc}}L_\pm ^{\mathrm{max}}/L_\pm <10^41`$, and $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs outflowing from the stellar surface mostly annihilate in the vicinity of the strange star, $`rR`$ (Beloborodov B99 (1999) and references therein). If the total luminosity is not very high, $`L10^{42}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1`$, the luminosity in $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs at the distance $`rR`$ cannot be essentially more than $`L_\pm ^{\mathrm{max}}`$. At $`L10^{42}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1`$ the outflowing $`e^+e^{}`$ wind is relativistic, and the luminosity in pairs at $`rR`$ is $`L_\pm ^{\mathrm{max}}(L/10^{42}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1)^{3/4}<10^6L`$ (e.g., Usov U94 (1994); Lyutikov & Usov LU00 (2000)). Hence, far from a bare strange star with the surface temperature $`T__\mathrm{S}8\times 10^8`$ K the photon luminosity dominates irrespective of $`T__\mathrm{S}`$ and practically coincides with the total luminosity given by equation (13).

## 3 Discussion

In this paper, we have considered the thermal emission from the bare SQM surface of a hot strange star. The SQM surface emissivity in both photons and $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs is estimated for $`T__\mathrm{S}8\times 10^8`$ K. We found that at $`T__\mathrm{S}1.5\times 10^9`$ K the SQM surface emissivity is $`10`$% of the black body surface emissivity. Below this temperature, $`T__\mathrm{S}1.5\times 10^9`$ K, the SQM surface emissivity decreases rapidly with decrease of $`T__\mathrm{S}`$, and at $`T__\mathrm{S}<8\times 10^8`$ K it is at least four orders of magnitude smaller than the emissivity of the black body surface.

Recently, it was argured that SQM is a superconductor if its temperature is not too high (for a review, see Rajagopal & Wilczek RW00 (2000)). In this case, the non-equilibrium quark-quark bremsstrahlung radiation discussed in (Chmai et al. CHS91 (1991)) is completely suppressed, and equation (13) may be used at $`T__\mathrm{S}<8\times 10^8`$ K as well.

”Normal” matter (ions and electrons) may be present at the SQM surface of a strange star. The ions in the inner layer are supported against the gravitational attraction to the underlying strange star by the very strong electric field of the Coulomb barrier. There is an upper limit to the amount of normal matter at the quark surface, $`\mathrm{\Delta }M10^5M_{}`$ (Glendenning & Weber GW92 (1992)). Such a massive envelope of normal matter with $`\mathrm{\Delta }M10^5M_{}`$ completely obscures the quark surface. However, it was pointed out (e.g., Haensel, Paczyński, & Amsterdamski HPA (1991)) that a strange star at the moment of its formation is very hot. The temperature in the stellar interior may be as high as a few $`\times 10^{11}`$ K. The rate of mass ejection from such a hot compact star is very high (e.g., Woosley & Baron WB92 (1992); Levinson & Eichler LE93 (1993); Woosley W93 (1993)), and most probably, the normal-matter envelope is blown away by radiation pressure. High temperatures also lead to considerable reduction of the Coulomb barrier, increasing the tunneling of nuclei through the barrier toward the SQM surface (Kettner et al. KWWG95 (1995)). Therefore, it is natural to expect the SQM surface of a very young strange star to be nearly (or completely) bare. It was argued that the normal-matter atmosphere of such a star remains optically thin until the temperature of the SQM surface is higher than $`3\times 10^7`$ K (Usov U97 (1997)).

Since SQM at the surface of a bare strange star is bound via strong interaction rather than gravity, such a star can radiate at the luminosity greatly exceeding the Eddington limit at the stellar mass of $`M_{}`$ (Alcock et al. AFO86 (1986); Chmaj et al. CHS91 (1991); Usov U98 (1998) and this paper). Therefore, bare strange stars are reasonable candidates for soft $`\gamma `$-ray repeaters (SGRs) that are the sources of short bursts of high-frequency (X-ray and $`\gamma `$-ray) emission with Super-Eddington luminosities, up to $`10^{43}10^{45}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1`$. The bursting activity of SGRs may be explained by fast heating of the stellar surface up to the temperature of $`(12)\times 10^9`$ K (see Fig. 2) and its subsequent thermal emission. The heating mechanism may be either impacts of comets onto bare strange stars (Zhang, Xu, & Qiao ZXQ00 (2000)) or fast decay of superstrong ($`10^{14}10^{15}`$ G) magnetic fields (Usov U84 (1984); Thompson & Duncan TD95 (1995); Heyl & Kulkarni HK98 (1998)).

This work was supported by the Israel Science Foundation of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

FIGURE CAPTIONS

Fig. 1. Total emissivity of bare SQM surface (solid line), which is the sum of emissivities in equilibrium photons (dashed line) and $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs (dotted line), divided by the black body emissivity, $`\xi =\xi _{\mathrm{eq}}+\xi _\pm `$. Our calculations are valid for the surface temperature $`T__\mathrm{S}8\times 10^8`$ K when $`\xi `$ is more than the upper limit on $`\xi _{\mathrm{neq}}`$, $`\xi _{\mathrm{neq}}10^4`$, which is shown by dot-dashed line.

Fig. 2. The total luminosity of a bare strange star (solid line) as a function of the surface temperature $`T__\mathrm{S}`$, $`L=L_{\mathrm{eq}}+L_\pm `$, where $`L_{\mathrm{eq}}`$ and $`L_\pm `$ are the luminosities in thermal equilibrium photons (dashed line) and $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs (dotted line) respectively. The upper limit on the luminosity in non-equilibrium photons, $`L_{\mathrm{neq}}10^44\pi R^2F_{_{\mathrm{BB}}}`$, is shown by dot-dashed line.