The methods of thermal field theory for degenerate quantum plasmas in astrophysical compact objects

Abstract

In the study of degenerate plasmas contained within compact astrophysical objects, both special relativity and general relativity play important roles. After reviewing the existing treatment in the literature, here we employ the methods of relativistic thermal quantum field theory to compute the equation of states of degenerate matter for compact astrophysical objects such as the white dwarfs and the neutron stars. In particular, we compute the equation of states that include leading order corrections due to the finite temperature, the fine-structure constant as well as the effect of gravitational time dilation. We show that the fine-structure constant correction remains well-defined even in the non-relativistic regime in contrast to the existing treatment in the literature.