Equation of state of zero-temperature quark matter with finite quark masses

Abstract

We outline the key elements of a recent calculation aimed at determining the equation of state of deconfined (but unpaired) quark matter at zero temperature and high density, using finite quark masses. The computation is performed in perturbation theory up to three loops, and necessitates the development and application of some novel computational tools. In this talk, we introduce the basic features of these new techniques and review the main sources of motivation for considering finite quark mass effects in perturbation theory.

Comments: 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in the Proceedings of SEWM08, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, August 26-29, 2008