Thermodynamics, strange quark matter, and strange stars - art. no. 025801

Upon application of both the general ensemble theory and basic thermodynami cal principles, we derive in detail the thermodynamics of strange matter wi th density-dependent particle masses, which resolves the problem of inconsi stencies in the thermodynamical properties of the earlier approaches. We th en recalculate the properties of strange quark matter with this new thermod ynamical treatment and our recently determined quark mass scaling, and find that the density behavior of the sound velocity is opposite to the previou s finding, but consistent with one of our recent publications. The structur e equations for strange stars are integrated with the presently obtained eq uation of state. We find that the mass-radius relation is similar to previo us results except the maximum mass is smaller in our case if strange quark matter is absolutely stable.