Superburst: surface phenomenon of compact objects

Abstract

We suggest that superbursts from some low mass X-ray binaries may be due to breaking and re-formation of diquark pairs, on the surface of realistic strange stars. Diquarks are expected to break up due to the explosion and shock of the thermonuclear process. The subsequent production of copious diquark pairing may produce sufficient energy to produce the superbursts.Comment: 4 pages; to appear in the Proceedings of COSPAR Colloquium "Spectra & Timing of Compact X-ray Binaries," January 17-20, 2005, Mumbai, Indi