Näive dimensional analysis in an effective field theory for neutron stars

Abstract

In the investigation of the role of naturalness in e_ective theory, we focus on dense hadronic matter in a generalized relativistic multi-baryon Lagrangian density mean _eld approach which contains nonlinear self-couplings of the _ and _ meson _elds interacting with the fundamental baryon octet and with the ! and % meson _elds and compare its predictions with estimates obtained within a phenomenological naive dimensional analysis based on the naturalness of the coupling constants of the Lagrangian model; our investigation is limited however to the scalar sector of the theory. Upon adjusting the model parameters to describe bulk static properties of ordinary nuclear matter, we show that our approach represents a natural modelling of nuclear matter under the extreme conditions of density as found in the interior of neutron stars.