2002MNRAS.337.1224A

We investigate the relevance of the gravitational-wave driven r-mode instability for strange stars. We find that the unstable r-modes affect strange stars in a way that is quite distinct from the neutron star case. For accreting strange stars, we show that the onset of r-mode instability does not lead to the thermo-gravitational runaway that is likely to occur in neutron stars. Instead, the strange star evolves towards a quasi-equilibrium state on a time-scale of about a year. This mechanism could thus explain the clustering of spin frequencies inferred from kHz quasi-periodic oscillation data in low-mass X-ray binaries. For young strange stars, we show that the r-mode driven spin-evolution is also distinct from the neutron star case. In a young strange star, the r-mode undergoes short cycles of instability during the first few months. This is followed by a quasi-adiabatic phase where the r-mode remains at a small, roughly constant, amplitude for thousands of years. Another distinguishing feature from the neutron star case is that the r-modes in a strange star never grow to amplitudes of the order of unity. Our results suggest that the r-modes in a strange star emit a persistent gravitational-wave signal that should be detectable with large-scale interferometers given an observation time of a few months. If detected, these signals would provide unique evidence for the existence of strange stars, which would put useful constraints on the parameters of quantum chromodynamics.