Optimized delta expansion for the Walecka model

The optimized delta-expansion is used to study vacuum polarization effects in the Walecka model. The optimized delta-expansion is a nonperturbative approach for field theoretic models which combines the techniques of perturbation theory and the variational principle. Vacuum effects on self-energies and the energy density of nuclear matter are studied up to O(delta(2)). When exchange diagrams are neglected, the traditional relativistic Hartree approximation (RHA) results are exactly reproduced and, using the same set of parameters that saturate nuclear matter in the RHA, a new stable, tightly bound state at high density is found.