TOWARDS SELF-CONSISTENT RELATIVISTIC TRANSPORT THEORIES

We present an extension of relativistic mean-field theories within the framework of quantum correlation dynamics starting from an effective hadronic Lagrangian density with minimal coupling between baryons and mesons. When neglecting retardation for the meson fields the conventional meson-exchange picture is obtained for the baryon-baryon interaction. The resulting equations of motion for the baryonic one-body density matrix and two-body correlation spinor matrix provide a nonperturbative framework for the description of relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Adopting semiclassical limits for the Wigner transform of the one-body density matrix a covariant transport equation is derived in the limit of time-dependent Dirac-Brueckner theory. It describes the mean-field dynamics including momentum-dependent potentials as well as in-medium nucleon-nucleon collisions on the basis of the same meson fields without double counting of interactions. © 1990 Springer-Verlag.