Equation of State of Cold Quark Matter to O(α3s ln αs)

Accurately understanding the equation of state (EOS) of high-density, zero-temperature quark matter plays an essential role in constraining the behavior of dense strongly interacting matter inside the cores of neutron stars. In this Letter, we study the weak-coupling expansion of the EOS of cold quark matter and derive the complete, gauge-invariant contributions from the long-wavelength, dynamically screened gluonic sector at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N3LO) in the strong coupling constant alpha s. This elevates the EOS result to the O(alpha 3s ln alpha s) level, leaving only one unknown constant from the unscreened sector at N3LO, and places it on par with its high-temperature counterpart from 2003.

Automated summary

This study investigates the weak-coupling expansion of cold quark matter and derives the complete EOS result, improving our understanding of the behavior of quark matter.