ABSTRACT
A comparison with the structure of the full scattering matrix shows that the repeated two-baryon scattering processes in matter summed in the full T-matrix approximation are absent for the HF approach. At the level of the relativistic Hartree approximation, the mathematical structure of the baryon self-energies becomes extremely simple. The baryon source currents in the meson-field equations are replaced with their ground-state expectation values in accord with the condition of chemical equilibrium and electric charge neutrality. The linear σ—ω nuclear field theory has been broadly studied in both spherical and deformed nuclei. The chapter summarizes the many-body equations that determine the properties of dense nuclear matter as well as dense neutron star matter treated in the framework of either the relativistic Hartree approximation or the relativistic HF approximation. It explores the important role of electrons in neutron star matter, and provides the discussion of the baryon—lepton composition of such matter.
