Relativistic Baryon Effective Masses and Thresholds for Strongly Interacting Superdense Matter

Abstract

The relativistic effective mass of a baryon from the first SU(3)-symmetric octet is discussed. The calculation is based on a fully relativistic many-body theory for strongly interacting superdense matter. The dependence on interaction parameters is discussed. The resulting effective mass for high density becomes ${m}_{\mathrm{eff}}\ensuremath{\sim}{({a}^{2}\ensuremath{-}1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}{q}_{F}$. The density-independent coefficient $a$ contains the baryon mass, exchanged pseudoscalar-meson mass, and coupling constant. The discussion employs analytic expressions which fit the results of numerical calculation to better than 10% over a density range ${10}^{13}<{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{0}<{10}^{21}$ g/${\mathrm{cm}}^{3}$. The reduction in pressure of asymptotic superdense matter and the effect of increased thresholds for particle production are discussed. Finally we mention the possible importance of density-dependent effective coupling constants.