Cold and dense perturbative Yukawa theory with massive fermions

Abstract

Recent results for the two-loop thermodynamic potential of QCD at finite density have shown that nonzero quark mass corrections to the pressure are relevant and can dramatically affect the structure of compact stars. Motivated by these findings, we consider a simple toy model - cold and dense Yukawa theory - to study the effects of finite fermion masses on the pressure. The role of renormalization group running of the coupling and mass is also discussed. Results within this simple model might be useful in the description of condensates in the core of neutron stars.