Effective Theories of Dense and Very Dense Matter

Abstract

In these lectures we discuss the uses of effective field theory in studying dense hadronic matter. We focus on two regimes in the phase diagram. At low baryon density nucleons can be described as non-relativistic point particles interacting via short range forces. Interesting effects arise because of the large nucleon-nucleon scattering length. At very large density QCD matter can be described in terms of quarks and gluons. Unusual many body effects arise because of long range gluons fields, and because of the way color and flavor get entangled in the superconducting state.

49 pages, to appear in the proceedings of the ECT* school on ``Renormalization Group and Effective Field Theory Approaches to Many-Body Systems'', Springer Lecture Notes in Physics