Dense matter in compact stars - A pedagogical introduction

Abstract

Cold and dense nuclear and/or quark matter can be found in the interior of compact stars. It is very challenging to determine the ground state and properties of this matter because of the strong-coupling nature of QCD. I give a pedagogical introduction to microscopic calculations based on phenomenological models, effective theories, and perturbative QCD. I discuss how the results of these calculations can be related to astrophysical observations to potentially rule out or confirm candidate phases of dense matter.

Comments: 138+10 pages, v2: small modifications, typos fixed, Figs. 2.1 and 3.7 slightly changed; to appear in Lect. Notes Phys. (Springer), ISBN 978-3-642-12865-3