RX J1856.5-3754 as a possible strange star candidate

Abstract

RX J1856.5-3754 has been proposed as a strange star candidate due to its very small apparent radius measured from its X-ray thermal spectrum. However, its optical emission requires a much larger radius and thus most of the stellar surface must be cold and undetectable in Xrays. In the case the star is a neutron star such a surface temperature distribution can be explained by the presence of a strong toroidal field in the crust (Pérez-Azorín et al. 2006;Geppert et al. 2006). We consider a similar scenario for a strange star with a thin baryonic crust to determine if such a magnetic field induced effect is still possible.