Low-Energy Quantum Effective Action for Relativistic Superfluids

Abstract

We consider relativistic superfluids where the U(1) baryon symmetry is spontaneously broken. Using the formalism of the quantum effective action, we show that the low-energy dynamics of the superfluid Goldstone boson is completely determined by the equation of state. Applying the general formalism to asymptotically high densities, we find the effective action for the superfluid Goldstone field to leading order in alpha_s, and show that terms containing fifth and higher powers of the Goldstone boson appear only at the alpha_s^2 level with known coefficients.