In an early work, we applied a QCD-based equation of state (EOS) to the study of the stellar structure of self-bound strange stars, obtaining sequences with maximum masses larger than two solar masses and radii ranging from 8 to 12 km. In this work, we update the previous calculations and compare them with the most recent data, including the very recent determination of the mass and radius of the massive pulsar PSR $\mathrm{J}0740+6620$ performed by the NICER and XMM-Newton Collaborations. Our equation of state is similar to the MIT bag model one, but it includes repulsive interactions, which turn out to be essential to reproduce the accumulated experimental information. We find that our EOS is still compatible with all astrophysical observations, but the parameter window is now narrower.

• Received 12 July 2021
• Accepted 8 September 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.104.083011