The role of quark mass in cold and dense pQCD and quark stars

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For almost twenty years the effects of a nonzero strange quark mass on the equation of state of cold and dense QCD were considered to be negligible, thereby yielding only minor corrections to the mass-radius diagram of compact stars. By computing the thermodynamic potential to first order in αₛ, and including the effects of the renormalization group running of the coupling and strange quark mass, we show that corrections can be of the order of 25%, and dramatically affect the structure of compact stars.