Saturation of nuclear matter and roles of many-body forces: Nuclear matter in neutron stars probed by nucleus-nucleus scattering

Abstract

Yoichiro Nambu left great footprints in nuclear physics in the era of its fundamental developments, including his pioneering insight into the essential ingredients of the repulsive core of the nuclear force and its relation to the saturation of nuclear matter. The present review article focuses on recent developments of the interaction models between colliding nuclei in terms of Brueckner's G-matrix theory, starting from realistic nuclear forces and the saturation property of symmetric nuclear matter as well as neutron star matter.A recently proposed unique scenario of extracting the saturation property of nuclear matter and stiffness of neutron stars through the analysis of nucleus-nucleus elastic scattering in laboratories is presented in some detail.