Relativistic mean-field theory applied to the study of neutron star properties

Nuclear physics can be applied in various ways to the study of neutron stars. This thesis reports on one such application, where the relativistic mean-field approximation has been employed to calculate the equations of state of matter in the neutron star interior. In particular the equations of state of nuclear and neutron star matter of the NL3, PK1 and FSUGold parameter sets were derived. A survey of available literature on neutron stars is presented and we use the derived equations of state to reproduce the properties of saturated nuclear matter as well as the mass-radius relationship of a static, spherical symmetric neutron star. Results are compared to published values of the properties of saturated nuclear matter and to available observational data of the mass-radius relationship of neutron stars.