Effective Field Theory for Bulk Properties of Nuclei

Abstract

Recent progress in Lorentz-covariant quantum field theories of the nuclear many-body problem ({\em quantum hadrodynamics}, or QHD) is discussed. The importance of modern perspectives in effective field theory and density functional theory for understanding the successes of QHD is emphasized. The inclusion of hadronic electromagnetic structure and of nonanalytic terms in the energy functional is also considered.

Comments: 11 pages, 0 figures, REVTeX 3.0; Invited talk at the 11th Conference on Recent Progress in Many-Body Theories (MB 11), Manchester, UK, July 9--13, 2001