Short-range correlations in quark matter

We investigate the role of short-range correlations in quark matter within the framework of the SU(2) Nambu Jona-Lasinio model. Employing a next-to-leading order expansion in 1/N_c for the quark self-energy, we construct a fully self-consistent model that is based on the relations between spectral functions and self-energies. In contrast to the usual quasiparticle approximations, we take the collisional broadening of the quark spectral function consistently into account. Mesons are dynamically generated in the fashion of a random phase approximation, using full in-medium propagators in the quark loops. The results are self-consistently fed back into the quark self-energy. Calculations have been performed for finite chemical potentials at zero temperature. The short-range correlations not only generate finite widths in the spectral functions but also have influence on the chiral phase transition.