Kaon–baryon coupling schemes and kaon condensation in hyperon-mixed matter

Abstract The possible coexistence of kaon condensation and hyperons in highly dense matter [the (Y + K) phase] is investigated on the basis of the relativistic mean-field theory combined with the effective chiral Lagrangian. Two coupling schemes for the s-wave kaon–baryon interaction are compared regarding the onset density of kaon condensation in hyperon-mixed matter and the equation of state for the developed (Y + K) phase. One is the contact interaction scheme related to the nonlinear effective chiral Lagrangian. The other is the meson exchange scheme, where the interaction vertices between the kaon field and baryons are described by an exchange of mesons (σ, σ* mesons for scalar coupling, and ω, ρ, ϕ mesons for vector coupling). It is shown that in the meson exchange scheme, the contribution from the nonlinear scalar self-interaction gives rise to a repulsive effect for the kaon effective energy, pushing up the onset density of kaon condensation as compared with the contact interaction scheme. In general, the difference in kaon–baryon dynamics between the contact interaction scheme and the meson exchange scheme relies on the specific forms of the nonlinear self-interacting meson terms. They generate many-baryon forces through the equations of motion for the meson mean fields. However, they should have a definite effect on the ground state properties of nuclear matter only around the saturation density. It is shown that the nonlinear self-interacting term is not relevant to repulsive energy leading to stiffening of the equation of state at high densities, and that it cannot be compensated with a large attractive energy due to the appearance of the (Y + K) phase in the case of the contact interaction scheme. We also discuss what effects are necessary in the contact interaction scheme to make the equation of state with (Y + K) phase stiff enough to be consistent with recent observations of massive neutron stars.