Dense matter from chiral and scaling Lagrangians

Dense hadronic matter is discussed from the point of view of an effective Lagrangian that incorporates approximate chiral and scale invariances of QCD. It is shown, within an effective Lagrangian that preserves the original (zero density) symmetries of QCD, that the change of vacuum structure due to the presence of matter is manifested in the scaling as a function of density of hadronic masses. The proposition is that this scaled Lagrangian be taken as a basis for a systematic chiral expansion for describing nuclear processes at and above the normal nuclear density. Some preliminary consequences of this approach in various nuclear processes are discussed. (author) 31 refs