Structure of the Electrospheres of Bare Strange Stars

We consider a thin ($\sim 10^2-10^3$ fm) layer of electrons (theelectrosphere) at the quark surface of a bare strange star, taking into accountthe surface effects at the boundary with the vacuum. The quark surface holdsthe electron layer by an extremely strong electric field, generated in theelectrosphere to prevent the electrons from escaping to infinity bycounterbalancing the degeneracy and thermal pressure. Because of the surfacetension and depletion of $s$ quarks a very thin (a few fm) charged layer ofquarks forms at the surface of the star. The formation of this layer modifiesthe structure of the electrosphere, by significantly changing the electricfield and the density of the electrons, in comparison with the case when thesurface effects are ignored. Some consequences of the modification of theelectrosphere structure on the properties of strange stars are brieflydiscussed.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Ap