The Effective Chiral Model of Quantum Hadrodynamics Applied to Nuclear Matter and Neutron Stars

We review theoretical relations between macroscopic properties of neutron stars and microscopic quantities of nuclear matter, such as consistency of hadronic nuclear models and observed masses of neutron stars. The relativistic hadronic field theory, quantum hadrodynamics (QHD), and mean-field approximations of the theory are applied to saturation properties of symmetric nuclear and neutron matter. The equivalence between mean-field approximations and Hartree approximation is emphasized in terms of renormalized effective masses and effective coupling constants of hadrons. This is important to prove that the direct application of mean-field (Hartree) approximation to nuclear and neutron matter is inadequate to examine physical observables. The equations of state (EOS), binding energies of nuclear matter, self-consistency of nuclear matter, are reviewed, and the result of chiral Hartree-Fock ？approximation is shown. Neutron stars and history of nuclear astrophysics, nuclear model and nuclear matter, possibility of hadron and hadron-quark neutron stars are briefly reviewed. The hadronic models are very useful and practical for understanding astrophysical phenomena, nuclear