An introduction to color superconductivity in the weak coupling limit is given. The focus is on the basic tools in thermal field theory in computing two fundamental scales, the gap parameter and Debye and Meissner masses. The rich symmetry structure and symmetry broken patterns are analyzed based on the Anderson-Higgs mechanism. Some techniques in obtaining Debye and Meissner masses can be also applied for computing neutrino processes in compact stars. We show how one gets the neutrino emissivity in Urca processes by computing the polarization tensor of the W-boson. Transverse A phase of spin-1 pairing shows a particularly interesting property which leads to large pulsar spatial velocities relative to its surroundings.

Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Frankfurt