Thomas Schafer | Searcharxiv

arXiv2006

Low Energy Dynamics in Ultradegenerate QCD Matter

We study the low energy behavior of QCD Green functions in the limit that the baryon chemical potential is much larger than the QCD scale parameter $Λ_QCD$. We show that there is a systematic low energy expansion in powers of $(ω/m)^{1/3}$, where $ω$ is the energy and $m$ is the screening scale. This expansion is valid even if the effective quark-gluon coupling $g$ is not small. The expansion is purely perturbative in the magnetic regime $|\vec{k}| \gg k_0$. If the external momenta and energies satisfy $k_0 \sim |\vec{k}|$, planar, abelian ladder diagrams involving the full quark propagator have to be resummed but the corresponding Dyson-Schwinger equations are closed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

Neutrino Emission from Ungapped Quark Matter

We study neutrino emission from a normal, ungapped, quark phase in the core of a compact star. Neutrino emission from non-interacting quark matter leads to an emissivity that scales as $ε\sim T^7$. We show that the emissivity is enhanced by a combination of Fermi liquid and non-Fermi liquid effects. Fermi liquid effects lead to an emissivity that scales as $ε\sim α_s T^6$, as originally shown by Iwamoto. We demonstrate that non-Fermi liquid effects further enhance the rate, leading to $ε\sim α_s^3 T^6\log(m/T)^2$, where $m$ is the electric screening scale and $m\gg T$ under the conditions found in compact stars. We show, however, that combined with non-Fermi liquid effects in the specific heat the enhancement in the emissivity only leads to a modest reduction in the temperature of the star at late times. Our results confirm existing bounds on the presence of ungapped quark matter in compact stars. We also discuss neutrino emission from superconducting phases with ungapped fermionic excitations.

astro-ph↗