Possible existence of various collective modes, such as the compressional, the polarizational, and the surface vibrational modes in a strangelet, are discussed in the framework of hydrodynamic model. The eigenenergies of these collective modes are estimated using an equation of state for the interacting quark matter based on the quark bag model and are compared with the corresponding modes in the nuclei. It is found that, within the uncertainties associated with the bag model parameters, the collective eigenenergies in a strangelet are 1.5–4 times higher than those in the nuclei of same baryon number. The collective mode behavior may distinguish a strangelet from a large nucleus and give signature of the formation of quark-gluon plasma in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collision experiments.

• Received 7 April 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.51.1473