Relativistic description of nuclear matter in Hartree–Fock approximation using a generalized hybrid derivative coupling

The effect of the exchange terms in nucleon-nucleon interaction is studied for nuclear matter and neutron matter in the framework of the hybrid derivative coupling model. Pseudovector coupling between the pion and the nucleon and both vector and tensor couplings between the rho-meson and the nucleon have been included. A reduced value of the effective nucleon mass is obtained in nuclear matter as a result of the inclusion of the exchange terms. The rho-meson coupling constant obtained from meson exchange theories can be used to get a reasonable value of symmetry energy. The maximum limit of the neutron star mass obtained in this work is more than twice the solar mass. This rather high limit points to the inadequacy of the present Lagrangian at such a high density as it is restricted only to nucleonic degrees of freedom. (author)