Nuclear matter EOS with a three-body force

The effect of a microscopic three-body force on the saturation properties of nuclear matter is studied within the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach. The calculations show a decisive improvement of the saturation density along with an overall agreement with the empirical saturation point. With the three-body force the symmetry energy turns more rapidly increasing with density, which allows for the direct URCA process to occur in β-stable neutron star matter. The influence of the three-body force on the nuclear mean field does not diminish the role of the ground state correlations.