Some aspects of color superconductivity: an introduction

TL;DR

This paper provides a pedagogical overview of color superconductivity, focusing on symmetry structures, the Anderson-Higgs mechanism, and applications to neutrino processes in neutron stars.

Contribution

It introduces basic tools of thermal field theory for studying color superconductivity and demonstrates methods to compute neutrino emissivity and anisotropic emissions in compact stars.

Findings

Analysis of symmetry breaking patterns in color superconductivity

Calculation of neutrino emissivity for Urca processes

Illustration of anisotropic neutrino emissions in spin-1 phases

Abstract

A pedagogical introduction to color superconductivity in the weak coupling limit is given. The focus is on the basic tools of thermal field theory necessary to compute observables of color superconductivity. The rich symmetry structure and symmetry breaking patterns are analyzed on the basis of the Anderson-Higgs mechanism. Some techniques can also be applied for computing neutrino processes in compact stars. As an example, we show how to obtain the neutrino emissivity for Urca processes in neutron stars by computing the polarization tensor of the W-boson. We also illustrate how a spin-1 color superconducting phase generates an anisotropic neutrino emissions in compact stars.