Asymmetric nuclear matter in a Hartree-Fock approach to nonlinear quantum hadrodynamics - art. no. 045203

The equation of state (EOS) for asymmetric nuclear matter is discussed star ting from a phenomenological hadronic field theory of Serot-Walecka type in cluding exchange terms. In a model with self-interactions of the scalar sig ma meson we show that the Fock terms naturally lead to isospin effects in t he nuclear EOS. These effects are quite large and lead to a density depende nce of the isovector couplings. We obtain a potential symmetry term of "sti ff" type, i.e., increasing with baryon density and an interesting behavior of neutron-proton effective masses of relevance for transport properties of asymmetric dense matter.