Strangelet spectra from type II supernovae

Abstract

We study in this work the fate of strangelets injected as a contamination in the tail of a ‘‘strange matterdriven’’ supernova shock. A simple model for the fragmentation and braking of the strangelets, when they pass through the expanding oxygen shell is presented and solved to understand the reprocessing of this component. We find that the escaping spectrum is a scaled-down version of the one injected at the base of the oxygen shell. The supernova source is likely to produce low-energy particles of A∼100– 1000 quite independently of the initial conditions. However, it is difficult that ultrarrelativistic strangelets (such as the hypothetical Centauro primaries) can have an origin in those explosive events.