Effective field theory; Nuclear clusters

We investigate the possibility to describe nuclear matter in an approach constrained by the prominent features of quantum chromodynamics. We mapped the in-medium nucleon self-energies of a point coupling relativistic mean-field model on self-energies obtained in effective theories of QCD. More precisely, the contributions to the nucleon self-energy have been separated into the short range part, driven principally by the quark structure of the nucleon described in a quark–diquark picture, and the long range part, dictated by pion dynamics and determined using in-medium chiral perturbation theory. A saturation point, although unrealistic, is obtained without any free parameter. A realistic description of nuclear matter saturation properties has been obtained with the inclusion of a small phenomenological correction term to the short range part of the self-energy.