Solitons and effective field theories in the Physics of strong interactions

Abstract

In this thesis we aim to provide a unified framework for the study of both the phenomenology of nucleons and light nuclei, and the properties of ultra-dense nuclear matter such as that present inside neutron stars, from the point of view of the Skyrme model. We review the computation of some well known properties (like masses or charge radii) of light nuclei within a generalized Skyrme model, and compute others such as the gravitational form factors or beta-decay multipolar matrix elements, for the first time in a soliton approach. Finally, we obtain neutron star solutions using different Skyrme- based equations of state, and study their properties under rotation and tidal deformation, which in turn allow us to compute observable magnitudes that can be accesed with Gravitational Wave observations.